SHANGHAI '37 paperback book VICKI BAUM oup

The item for sale is a paperback book.

Shanghai '37 by Vicki Baum.

In 1937, Vicki Baum, author ot the internationally acclaimed Grand Hotel, visited Shanghai. Friends living there, who had fled Germany and Austria after the rise of Hitler, provided her with much gossip about personalities, the convolouted politics of China, and the secret life of the great city. When she came to write Shanghai '37 (first published in German under the title Hotel Shanghai), she was therefore, well prepared. The American edition appeared in 1939. It was the second of her 'hotel' novels.

The hotel depicted in Shanghai '37 was the Cathay (now renamed the Peace Hotel), located at the junction of Nanking Road and the Bund, the city's celebrated waterfront. On 14 August 1937, following the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, a bomb was dropped on the hotel. The bomb did considerable damage; many were wounded, and some died. This incident, known as 'Bloody Saturday', was to form the climax of Shanghai '37 - an account of the roads that led nine people to Shanghai, of the course of their lives, and of the hour of their death.

Introduction by H. J. Lethbridge

An Oxford University Press book.

Good used condition. Minor wear only but some yellowing to the pages.

From a smoke and pet free home.