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Based on the astonishing true story of one of China’s most provocative modern painters, The Painter from Shanghai, by Jennifer Cody Epstein, is a luminous re-imagining of the life of Pan Yuliang, a one-time orphan and prostitute who escaped sexual slavery to become one of the pioneering post-Impressionists of her time.
This debut novel (called “lush” and “sparkling” by Vogue, “luminous…an irresistible story” by the New York Times and “captivating” by Publishers Weekly) carries readers down the muddy waters of the Yangtze river and through the seedy backrooms of Wuhu brothels, into the raucous glamor of prewar Shanghai and the bohemian splendor of Paris in the Roaring Twenties.
In the process, the novel paints an unforgettable portrait of one of history’s unsung heroines–as well as of a vast and ancient nation caught at the crossroads of tradition and modernity, and teetering on the brink of both World and civil war.
The New York Times review stated “Most vivid is Epstein’s portrait of the lovely Jinling, “trailing scent like an elegant scarf, an exotic blend of gardenia and musk.” The establishment’s top girl, she eats seed pearls crushed with sugar to enhance her complexion.
Jinling befriends and protects Yuliang, bringing a bright insouciance to the brothel’s dark halls — until she is murdered, her throat slit by one of her clients. Her death reverberates throughout the novel. Indeed, Epstein suggests that Yuliang’s desire to repossess Jinling’s pale, beautiful, youthful flesh — and thereby her own — inspires the nude paintings that will later bring her such notoriety.”
About writing The Painter from Shanghai, Jennifer Cody Epstein writes “In early 1998, my husband and I were visiting a modern Chinese art exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. I’d just spotted my first Pan Yuliang painting: lush and Cezanne-esque, it showed the artist in Paris, gravely wistful against the boldly-toned background.
I knew my husband, a filmmaker, would appreciate it, but I was utterly unprepared for his response.
“This,” he announced, “will be your first novel.”
Stumble it!
