Recommendations based on "Shanghai Future: Modernity Remade"

Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure.Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney – populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights – a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is about family and memory, community and race, but is ultimately a love letter to story-telling and how our stories shape who we are.

Vicki Baum, author of the acclaimed Grand Hotel, visited Shanghai in 1937. Her many friends there provided her with a wealth of information about China's convoluted politics, and the secret life and unique personalities of Shanghai--material she used as the basis of Shanghai '37. The hotel depicted in the novel was the Cathay, which, on August 14, 1937, following the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, was attacked by a bomb. This incident, known as "Bloody Saturday," caused considerable damage and the deaths of many people. It forms the climax of Shanghai '37, a story that follows the lives of nine people to Shanghai and the hour of their death. This book, the second of Baum's "hotel" novels, was first published in America in 1939.

Cork Stories, edited by Madeleine D’Arcy and Laura McKenna, is a collection of short fiction set throughout the neighbourhoods of Cork city and county by writers who live or have lived in Cork. It is a sister anthology to Belfast Stories, Galway Stories and Galway 2020. Some of the stories present vivid portraits of the neighbourhoods using specific landmarks and detail; others capture the spirit of the neighbourhoods and its people. Together the stories celebrate Cork and the people who live there. Writers featured in Cork Stories Kevin Barry, Tadhg Coakley, Danny Denton, Martina Evans, Marie Gethins, Danielle McLaughlin, Oonagh Montague, Mary Morrissy, Grainne Murphy, Jamie O’Connell, Mel O’Doherty, Eileen O’Donoghue, Anne O’Leary, Tina Pisco, Sean Tanner, William Wall and Fiona Whyte.