From the bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asian s (Now a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE) comes a deliciously fun story of family, fortune, and fame in Mainland China. Book Two of the Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy It’s the eve of Rachel Chu’s wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birthfather, a man she never knew, won’t be there to walk her down the aisle. Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren’t just crazy rich … they’re China rich.

“Snarky. . . Wicked. . . Funny.” —Janet Maslin, *The New York Times

• “Deliciously fun. . . . Satire at its best.” —*People

•  
  “Scandalous.” —*Town and Country 
•  
  “Makes Downton Abbey look more like Downton Arrivistes. . . . Ingenious.” —*The Daily Beast 
•  
  “Frothy.”—Hanya Yanigahara, *Conde Nast Traveler 

•  
  “Lifestyles of the rich and famous, China-style” —*The Houston Chronicle

  “This year's best beach reading. . . . As frothy as the egg whites on the sort of cocktail you should drink while reading Kwan’s books. . . . Highly entertaining.” —The Washington Post

•  
  “A crazy parade through the lives of the aspirational elite.” —*Los Angeles Times

• “The equivalent of a Bubble Tea concoction laced with Henry James extracts and Jackie Collins sprinkles. . . . In the same way that Edith Wharton catalogued the Gilded Age via novels like The Age of Innocence, Kwan—in his novels—is doing his bit for a China that now has the second-highest number of millionaires in the world.” —The Daily Beast 

• “A taste of Asian opulence served with skewering humor.” —The Daily News*

   
  “Kwan’s characters are powerful and attractive, living in the lap of luxury.” —NPR, “All Things Considered” *  
  “Very enjoyable. . . . Just as funny as Crazy Rich Asians, this globe-spanning tale of excess includes enough snootiness and class snobbery to fill a multitude of designer handbags.” —MinneapolisStar Tribune *

   “With the same hilarity . . . as the first novel, China Rich Girlfriend will not disappoint both fans and newcomers to the series.” —Town and Country 
   

   “An equally good-natured, catty-as-hell sequel. . . . Part Oscar Wilde, part Judith Krantz, part Arthur Frommer . . . Hilarious . . . Over-the-top and hard to stop.” —Kirkus Reviews

• “China Rich Girlfriend is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in quite some time. . . . A jam-packed, lively story.” —Amy Scribner, BookPage *

  “A heady taste of vicarious escapism. . . . Read China Rich Girlfriend for the exuberant spectacle of zippy vintage cars, gossipy matriarchs-who-lunch and reckless profligacy but read it also for its very engaging narrative about people like us.” —Thuy On, The Sydney Morning Herald 

  “[An] amusing, whirlwind novel.” —The Miami Herald

• “Like Gossip Girl and Dynasty and the royal family of England all at the same time. Kwan’s characters behave hideously—and it’s hilarious.” —Elaine “Lainey” Lui, Flare

  “Will have readers clamoring for more.” —Library Journal ****(starred review)

  “An engaging page-turner with a multi-layered, inventive narrative. Kwan has clearly taken a few lessons from one of America’s great social satirists—think Tom Wolfe set loose on the wealthiest enclaves of Confucian Asia.” —South China Morning Post

  Autorentext
  ​​KEVIN KWAN is the author of the international bestsellers Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, Rich People Problems, and Sex and Vanity. Born in Singapore, he has called New York’s West Village home since 1995.

  **

  Klappentext

  From the bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians (Now a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE) comes a deliciously fun story of family, fortune, and fame in Mainland China.

  Book Two of the Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy

  It's the eve of Rachel Chu's wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birthfather, a man she never knew, won't be there to walk her down the aisle.

  Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren't just crazy rich … they're China rich.

  Zusammenfassung
  NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of the international sensation Crazy Rich Asians delivers a “snarky … wicked … funny” follow-up (The New York Times) that’s a deliciously fun romantic comedy of family, fortune, and fame in Mainland China. 
  
  It’s the eve of Rachel Chu’s wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birth father, a man she never knew, won’t be there to walk her down the aisle. 

  Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren’t just crazy rich … they’re China rich.

  Leseprobe
  1

  The Mandarin

  Hong Kong, January 25, 2013

  In early 2012, a brother and sister clearing out their late mother’s attic in the London neighborhood of Hampstead discovered what appeared to be a cluster of old Chinese scrolls at the bottom of a steamer trunk. By chance, the sister had a friend who worked at Christie’s, so she dropped them off--in four Sainsbury’s grocery sacks--at the auctioneer’s salesroom on Old Brompton Road, hoping they might “take a look and tell us if they’re worth anything.”

  When the senior specialist of Chinese Classical Paintings opened up one of the silk scrolls, he nearly went into cardiac arrest. Unfurled before him was an image so remarkably rendered, it immediately reminded him of a set of hanging scroll paintings long thought to be destroyed. Could this be The Palace of Eighteen Perfections? The artwork, created by the Qing dynasty artist Yuan Jiang in 1693, was believed to have been secretly removed from China during the Second Opium War in 1860, when many of the royal palaces were ransacked, and lost forever.

  As staffers scurried around unrolling the scrolls, they discovered twenty-four pieces, each almost seven feet tall and in immaculate condition. Placed side by side, they s…