Rising Sun, Falling Shadow

During the 1930s, the International Settlement of Shanghai was a city Jews could enter without a visa. Consequently many Jewish refugees from Nazism (about 18,000) did so, until the outbreak of World War Two made it virtually impossible.

When the Japanese occupied the International Settlement at the end of 1941, Germany applied pressure on their allies to act against these Jews, pressure which the Japanese to a considerable extent disregarded. However, they did eventually compel them to live in what was almost a ghetto (almost, because Chinese, many themselves refugees, also lived there) in the crowded district known as Hongkew. Daniel Kalla's novel is set in this period, specifically the year 1943. It begins with a reprise of the last two chapters from his earlier novel, The Far Side of the Sky (although that they are a reprise is not mentioned), which deals with the main characters' escape to and settlement in Shanghai, and it ends on a note that suggests a sequel will follow.