When a girl finds a Faberge egg in the snow outside a train station in Harbin, China, her life will never be the same. Eventually, she finds the owner, who promises her that if she ever needs help, she can visit him in Shanghai. She ultimately is forced to leave Siberia and find her way to Shanghai, where she learns how to create jewelry. There, she becomes entangled with violent gangsters and a mad princess.

The Master Jeweler is an exciting and totally engaging novel about a you g girl, Anyu, who is orphaned and finds her way with the help of a master jeweler with a secret past. I was immediately drawn into Anyu’s journey as she becomes a woman and tries to find her place in this world.

🛰️ Finding The Trail
I sometimes have this habit of sniffing around some random corners of Netgalley and find titles by authors known to me. This time, I stumbled into unknown territory. Not because of the author, but due to the publishing house. I hit the big green button stating “Read Now” and got suck into the past.

The years rolled back and the clock ticked in reverse. Then, I got teleported to a northern region in China, somewhere close to the Russian border.

The year? 1925.

📘 Her Story
Anyu doesn’t have a father. Or rather, he does not live with her. They both know each other from a distance. But the girl doesn’t wail. She quietly accepts her fate and lives together with her mother on the outskirts of Harbin, where they are sometimes harassed by some locals.

One day, Anyu stumbles upon a Fabergé egg and falls completely in love with the decorative piece. Eventually, following the good lessons her mother taught her, she returns the piece to its rightful owner, Isaac Mandelburg, He, in turn, offers her his handkerchief and a promise that will completely alter her life.

🧭 First explorations
I first opened the book in April. Then, life happened and I put my reading on pause. I remember reading everything enthusiastically, remembering the way words flow from underneath the author’s quill. Everything was smooth and cinematic, allowing me to walk side by side with Anyu and see the desolate lands of Harbin, China.

And then came the words I didn’t understand. Words I once thought I knew. Or words I encountered for the first time. I felt as if I was handled the map with incomplete instructions—and I loved it all.

🚦 Green Light
The prose. THE PROSE! I have read other books penned by Weina before, but this was by far her best work. At least based on my little interaction with her writing. The duology I read (Moon in the Palace) was fine, but The Master Jeweler is on a whole other level. I was absolutely in love with the bedazzled vocabulary she chose to litter the paragraphs with.

The story flew like a river. Everything was fast paced without feeling like it was. The author seemed to encourage the reader to take their time savoring every action. In 1925, the winters were harsh. Ten years later, things change. It was definitely interesting to see how quickly Anyu moved and became one of the most talented artisans in Shanghai, while dodging gang theft and war.

The characters were incredibly human. Some of them made me wanna pull a paper bag over their faces so I could avoid the embarrassing actions they took (I am looking at you, monsieur B.), some were madly obsessed, while others were absolute cowards. What I loved most, though, was that Anyu was a strong heroine, deeply flawed, but sparkling with determination.

⚠️ Warning Signs
Anyu. Not gonna lie, she frustrated me a few times. She felt like a horse who only knew to go forward. But I get it. Some people are like that. They only have one train of thought. And they follow it. Till the end.

📜 The Envoy
For readers who: are on the lookout of jewel made of words.

Avoid if: single-minded characters make you wanna slap them.

The Master Jeweler by Weina Dai Randel
I was hooked from the beginning!
It was amazing and engaging. …
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Weina Dai Randel for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of The Master Jeweler.
What a great read! This is a beautifully written, heart wrenching story of an exceptional young woman’s journey to fame in the world of jewelry in 1920’s Shanghai.
The plot is fast paced and fascinating. Family, friendships love and ambition play equal parts in this complicated novel. Many times, I couldn’t believe what was happening. The main character, Anyu, is fully developed and multi-layered. I felt I was along with her through her struggles and successes. There are many ups and downs along the way-from poor to rich, happy to sad and everything in between.
This is a new author for me and I will definitely check out her backlist. Thoroughly enjoyed this and will think of Anyu often.

Got a few minutes? You’ll be flying through this one.

Weina Dai Randel has crafted a suspenseful 1920’s plot with brilliant character development. The pacing is swift and crisp, urging you to turn page after page.

Hits on;
Loyalty.
Mental strength.
Resiliency.
Found family.
Dedication.
Faith.
Work ethic.

Travel with the FMC, Anju, as she is orphaned at 15 and traverses her way from home to Shanghai, to Hong Kong. Ultimately, she becomes a master jeweler and gets mixed up in the Shanghai underground of shady jewel dealings and secret societies.

Anyone who enjoys a good historical fiction novel will appreciate The Master Jeweler.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Weina Dai Randel has a strong writing style for this type of book, I was invested in the historical element going on. It uses the 1920s Shanghai setting perfectly and was engaged from start to finish and loved how good the characters were written in this. I was engaged with the characters and how their story was told.

4 ⭐

We follow Anyu, a 15-year-old girl recently orphaned and on the run, who decides to take temporary shelter in Shanghai upon having a fateful encounter with a Fabergé egg. That moment sparks her desire to be the master jeweller. The pursuit of which brings her great joy, but also horrible tragedy.
Anyu can come off as a very unlikable and frustrating character based on her emotions and decisions, but given all that she has gone through and survived, it makes you feel empathetic. Having traded one war for another, the tragedies that follow the egg are endless.

Thank you, Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley, for an early proof in exchange for an honest review.

In 1925, in Harbin, China, a 15-year-old girl named Anyu found a priceless Fabergé egg and was immediately captivated by it, though she had to return it to its rightful owner, Isaac Mandelburg. This encounter would change the course of her life forever.

The Master Jeweller by Weina Dai Randel tells the story of Anyu and her life as she journeys through the dazzling world of jewellery amidst the uncertain times that are happening in China.

I did enjoy the descriptive narrative of the book especially with the process of making jewelries, especially when Anyu started mixing the Chinese myths with the west way if jewelry making, however I did not enjoy the rest as it felt like there is a lot unbaked ideas that is sprinkled on throughout the book, the pacing is so uneven most of the times that the book felt all over the place. The romance felt unnecessary as well because to me it did not serve a purpose on Anyu’s character and her growth as a master jeweller with her never-ending ideas of mixing two cultures in making pieces of jewellery, her being young may have played a huge role in her actions, but it's honestly frustrating.

Thanks, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley, for the ARC.

4 stars.

I really enjoyed the writing in this novel. It was concise while still being sufficiently lyrical. The storyline was enticing, though I had some issues with some of the characters.

Anyu was very realistic. Her pride led her astray sometimes, but her loyalty was unwavering following some hard life lessons.

I am uncertain why some plot lines were included, as I felt that they weren’t very much necessary but I can see how they are realistic and provide an insight into very true to life events that may have happened (and still happen).

While some characters were very developed, others were not so much. There’s a lot of skipping through timelines to assist with the plot advancement which I don’t mind, but through doing this, a lot of side-character development was lost.

Still, I really enjoyed this book and I am glad to have received an ARC of it, in return for an unbiased review.

Weina Randel's THE MASTER JEWELER delivers a compelling portrait of 1920s Shanghai's jewelry trade, following one young woman's determined fight to establish herself in a world where artistry and commerce collide with brutal force. Randel skillfully balances meticulous historical research with an intimate character study, exploring how ambition and survival intersect in a society that prizes beauty as both currency and weapon. Her protagonist, Anyu Zhang, emerges as a formidable force navigating the treacherous dynamics between creative vision and commercial necessity. With precise prose and mounting tension, the novel examines the true cost of genius and the relentless drive required to endure. This is historical fiction that trusts its story to captivate without relying on excess flourish—a gripping read that lingers long after the final page.

BOOK: THE MASTER JEWELER
AUTHOR: WEINA DAI RANDEL
PUB DATE: JUNE 2025
👩🏻‍🏭💎
REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
💎👩🏻‍🏭
There are some books that it's obvious that they will be gut-wrenching and emotional, and this is one of those books. This book solely focused on Anyu, a young orphan Chinese woman trying to survive in the early 1900s with all the war and strife then in China. First, Anyu was directionless until she found a purpose as a jeweller. First, she found a family in a stateless Jewish jeweller family, the Mandelburgs. They taught her everything she knew about jewellery and were very very good to her, they practically adopted her. To be honest, they were the only source of joy for Anyu in this book.
👩🏻‍🏭💎
Anyu was a dedicated character, she was so determined to make something out of herself and become a master jeweller. She was laser-focused although there were some hiccups here and there. She went through so much, I just wish the already happy ending was a little bit happier. She did become a master jeweller, transformed the house of Mandelburg jewellery and brought in more business.
💎👩🏻‍🏭
Through this book, I learnt a lot about the wonderful world of making jewellery and the different wars, fights going on in Shanghai, China from 1925- 45. I liked this book, its attention to history, the different characters, storyline, pacing and ending. This book was a rollercoaster and I liked that Anyu got a semblance of a happy ending. I liked that the author was very clear on how time passed and it was added in the chapters too, it did not confuse me. I would recommend this book, you'll learn a lot and fall in love with the characters, especially Anyu.
👩🏻‍🏭💎

Captivating story of 15 year old Anyu who leaves home in the north of China for the glittering world of Shanghai, where she learns the art of jewelry making from a family of Jewish artisans. She becomes a master jewelry with her designs and artwork in jewelry making and rewards the family by making their name famous in the city.

The detailed descriptions of the work that went into making fine necklaces, rings, tiaras, bracelets and more using basic materials from scratch make the novel particularly interesting. The plot itself of a young girl who is trained to become a top artisan in her field is intriguing. The somewhat sad ending as China is invaded by the Japanese pre-WWII makes the story realistic and puts in historical context. The descriptions of Faberge eggs designed for the tsars in pre revolutionary Russia is detailed, as is Anyu's efforts to reproduce the intricacy of the jeweled eggs for her own work.

Informative and well written, I enjoyed this book immensely.

After loving The Last Rose in Shanghai, I was excited for this one. The premise - a talented Chinese jeweler navigating war, heartbreak, and betrayal - had promise, and Randel’s prose is just as vivid and atmospheric as ever. But despite strong writing, the story didn’t land the way I hoped.

Anyu never quite felt emotionally grounded. Her reactions to major events were flat, and her romance with Isaac felt forced and uncomfortable. Some of her choices felt more like plot mechanics than genuine character development. She risked falling into tired tropes rather than standing as a complex lead.

Randel’s historical research does shine in places, particularly in her attention to Jewish communities living in China after the Russian Revolution. The inclusion of this lesser-known aspect of Chinese history was fascinating, though it also took space away from a more thorough exploration of Chinese women's lives during the same period.

Culturally, the story read as oddly westernized. Overall, The Master Jeweler reads like a book caught between two visions: one aiming to educate and honor overlooked histories, the other shaped by familiar Western expectations. It's beautifully written but emotionally distant, filled with rich details but lacking in cohesion. Chinese identity and history felt filtered for outside audiences, often leaning into exoticism. Real events like the Japanese invasion and historical figures like Kawashima Yoshiko were treated superficially, I wanted more heart and authenticity—and less performance.

That said, if you’re looking for an engaging read loosely based on history with rich descriptions, it might still be worth a try. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Book review: 4/5 ⭐️
Genre: historical fiction
Themes: found family, artisans, discrimination, secret societies
📖 Read if you like: The Mountains Sing, The Lotus Shoes

This journey of a little girl who becomes an orphan only to find a new family and a new profession as a woman is a great saga. Yet her life is plagued with misery, some of her own making and others simply a matter of circumstance and perhaps her share of bad luck. With revolutions and wars, invasions and migrations this is a story that travels through China to Hong Kong and beyond. A story of capture and imprisonment, of deceit and greed. Yet it is also a story of love and creativity, of finding purpose and staying true to yourself.

By chance, a 15-year old Anyu discovers a Faberge egg in Harbin. An honest girl she returns it to Isaac Mandelburg, a refuge and former master jeweler in imperial Russia. As a token of thanks, he leaves his address in Shanghai hoping they will meet again. This chance meeting will set about a chain reaction that will see Anyu entering the dazzling and dangerous world of jewellers. With a single-minded determination and inspired talent, Anyu will stop at nothing until she herself becomes a master jeweler. As she becomes inexplicably entwined with local gangsters and secret societies, she will soon discover how valuable she truly is and what greedy rivals are willing to do to acquire what they covet.

It is a very Dickensian tale with a heroine that is steadfast and truthful if naive. She seems to willingly walk into dangerous situations with outcomes that can be easily spotted by everyone but her. It was odd that she also made the same mistakes as her mother in some respect, but I suppose these are all growing pains. I tried to remember she was very young for the majority of this book and her outlook and emotional state reflect that, especially in her decision making. There were many other characters that rounded out this orphan’s tale though most were transient in the storyline.

The world of jewelry making was truly dazzling and the process enchanting. I got lost in the artistry and all the interwoven plot points. Thank you to Brilliance Publishing, Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for an eARC and audiobook. Christine Lin did a brilliant job of performing this book perfectly adapting ages and district profiles and accents to all of the characters. Her reading really made this story come alive. While I have really been enjoying audiobooks some parts need to be savoured and read slowly. Grateful to be able to approach this one in a tandem read.

Anyu is a survivor. She has suffered so much that when the opportunity to become an apprentice for a master jeweler arises, she decides to dive into it without any previous knowledge but with just the love for beautiful jems. The story follows her through 1920's Shanghai and much of WWII. Anyu's story is that of those who have suffered through war and all the crimes, pain, and suffering that come with it. Her story of survival, suffering, and finding love in the most unconventional ways.

First time reading this author, and I will be going back to read her other books.


Thank you, Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing, for this ARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for an advance copy to read and review.

There is much to commend Weina Dai Randel’s latest foray into historical fiction. She demonstrates a depth of research into China before and during the Second World War that results in a very believable context for the main players. The contrasts between northern Chinese society, on the Russian border, and that of cosmopolitan Shanghai, is fascinating. She provides glimpses into the tensions between Jewish emigres who escaped the Bolshevik revolution, the Chinese gangsters who ruled the streets on behalf of important men, the British and French who distrusted each other but thought themselves above the rest. Then there are the class distinctions within Chinese society itself, which meant, for the poor, much tolerance of abuse for the sake of survival.

Anyu lives hand to mouth in a windowless flat with her mother in Harbin, in northern China. She and her mother are outcasts. Her warlord father had never acknowledged them. Her only pleasure is drawing in front of the train station. When she returns a lost object to a ‘foreigner’ in a great hurry to flee the city, he thanks her by giving her his address and his silk handkerchief, promising to help her if she ever needs him. The foreigner is Isaac Mandelburg, a Russian jeweller and a member of the secret Master Jewellers Guild, on the run from the Bolsheviks; the object is a Faberge egg entrusted to him by the last empress.

That time comes very quickly as her mother dies in a Japanese bombing, and Anya decides to make her way to has to find a way to survive. After a very long and arduous train trip to Shanghai, she locates Isaac at his struggling workshop in the Jewish sector.

And so Anyu’s adventures begin, and ‘adventures’ is exactly the right word for what happens to her when she the Mandelburgs reluctantly take her in. Soon she wears down Isaac, who wants his shiftless son to succeed him, and in a matter of months she has become a master jeweller whose unique designs from Chinese mythology win her awards and prestige and revive the House of Mandelburg’s flagging fortunes. They also place her and the Mandelburg family in the sites of various evil people and organizations.

There is so much happening, so many time jumps, and so many characters who jump sides that there’s no effective way to summarize what happens to Anyu. It seems as though she repeats the ‘rags to riches’ process multiple times over the course of the barely 20 years, from 1925 to just after the war, that are covered. I would have preferred fewer abrupt and seemingly random changes, and more of Anya’s emotional response to them. She is meant to be stoic and independent, but she survives enormous losses, time after time, without real effect. Some of the situations she gets in and out of are just implausible. Both the characters she loves and those she hates seem to pop in and out of her life in various locations and at various times.

The historical basis of these difficult years of many threats, especially from the Japanese, is superbly covered, and I don’t regret reading the book, but it didn’t work for me.

This sweeping tale begins in 1925. Fifteen-year-old Anya Zhang is living in Harbin, China, with her mother. When she finds an irreplaceable Fabergé egg in the snow, she does the right thing, returning it to its owner, jeweler Isaac Mandelburg, who was frantically searching for it before his train's departure to Shanghai. Issac and his family were seeking refuge from the growing antisemitism in Russia, where he had crafted jewelry for the Imperial Family. Issac gives Anya his address, inviting her to visit him. She is soon orphaned and decides to travel to Shanghai, hoping Issac will take her in. Inspired by the beauty of the Fabergé egg, Anya is determined to learn from Issac how to design jewelry. As the years pass, the Mandelburgs become Anya's new family, and her talent in designing jewelry grows. Around them, the streets of Shanghai are filled with gangs, treacherous thieves, and violence. And as war looms near, Japanese soldiers occupy the city. Anya's engrossing journey, filled with triumphs and tragedy, continues.

The Master Jeweler by Weina Dai Randel is a transportive reading experience that is much more than a coming-of-age story of Anya, who starts as a naive, impulsive girl and evolves into a woman trying to survive. It also explores the plight of a Jewish family living in China, the art of jewelry making, and the political atmosphere leading to World War II. All fascinating.

4.25 stars.

In this book, we follow Anyu, a young Chinese woman who moves from Harbin to Shanghai in the 1920s where she is taken in by a Jewish family and trains to be a master jeweler.

This was a really interesting read that touches on race relations, the Japanese invasion of China, and the place of women in society. Anyu makes for a compelling main character and we watch her grow and mature throughout the decades.

A recommended read for fans of Lisa See and Fabergé eggs.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately The Master Jeweler was a disappointment for me. I went in expecting an epic story about Anyu becoming a jeweler in Shanghai and instead got a story that takes place in multiple countries, over multiple decades, and never really felt fully formed.

The dialogue also felt very stiff and while sometimes it said what language the characters were speaking to who, it never really worked for me. The best part was about the jewelry itself but I never really connected with the characters and the writing style didn't work for me either.