Night Angels: historical fiction based on the remarkable true story

Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel is a historical fiction based on the remarkable true story of a diplomat and his wife and the risks they took on the eve of World War II. In 1938, Dr. Hi Fengshan is the consul general of China posted in Vienna with his Chinese-American wife, Grace. Grace is shy and unsure of herself with the societal obligations of a diplomat’s wife. She is an outsider in a beautiful city as the atmosphere turns ugly as the Nazis sweep through with their policies. When Grace forms a friendship with Lola Schnitzler, she sees firsthand at the ugliness of the Nazis against Jews. She is warned to keep her distance as the Third Reich is keeping them under a very vigilant eye. As the brutal pogroms increase, Dr Ho decides to help thousands of Jews escape Vienna as war is about to explode. 

I loved Weina Dai Randel’s The Last Rose of Shanghai and looked forward to reading Night Angels. Exploring the risks individuals took in order to save lives and the love and friendships formed in the face of a growing evil, Night Angels is, in a sense, a prequel to The Last Rose of Shanghai. I eagerly started the story as I expected an emotional, moving story. However, I was quickly disappointed as the story was very slow going. The chapters were fairly short and chopped up the flow. The characters were flat. It wasn’t until after I finished the story and looked more into the historical Dr Ho and while Night Angels is historical fiction, there were a lot of liberties taken that Dr Ho was not recognizable as the hero he was in real life. Overall, I did not enjoy this story and do not recommend Night Angels. 

Night Angels is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook