The Good Girl of Chinatown

Author: Jenevieve Chang

Paperback | 1 May 2017

Serve it piping hot, And what have you got? A burlesque - A Shanghai burlesque show!

From the claustrophobia of Sydney suburbia to the grim austerity of East London, Jenevieve Chang has been running away for as long as she can remember. Now - along with thousands of other Westerners trying to escape the 2008 global financial crisis - she has come to Shanghai, wanting to be part of the country her family called home for generations. But the glamorous and outrageous Shanghai she finds is not like the stories her grandmother has told her. For one, it's the last place on Earth she thought she'd become a fancy stripper.

As her marriage collapses and she struggles to fit in with this over-the-top new world, Jenevieve searches for a place to call home, a place to keep her from running any further. And then she finds it- Chinatown, Shanghai's first Vaudeville, Variety and Burlesque Club - a mecca for the good old days in a city intent on reviving its reputation as the world's most decadent destination. She will remake herself as one of the Chinatown Dolls, the most sought-after showgirls in town.

When Chinatown begins to spectacularly derail, though, and with memories of pain from her past pressing in on her, Jenevieve travels further and further away from the person she wants to be. How will she choose between the pleasure of propping up illusions, and the painful redemption of facing up to one's past? Vibrant, bold and raw, The Good Girl of Chinatown is a true story of cultural clash and hedonism gone awry as a good girl from a traditional Chinese-Australian family becomes a Shanghai showgirl.