When Sleeping Women Wake: a sweeping historical WW2 novel with female resistance at its heart
Emma Pei Yin
Jun 2025 · Quercus · Narrated by Vera Chok
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11 hr 10 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
'A heart-breaking, moving, and soaring novel' NGUYỄN PHAN QUẾ MAI
'Gorgeous and expansive' STYLIST
Hong Kong, 1941. Following the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the wealthy Tang family flee to Hong Kong.
As the First Wife of the family, Mingzhu leads a sheltered - if lonely - existence overseeing her daughter Qiang and managing the household alongside her devoted maid, Biyu.
But when the Japanese army invade, the three women are scattered. Mingzhu is coerced into working for a Japanese captain. Qiang and Biyu escape the island, only to be forced into factory work then separated after an encounter with the East River Column Resistance fighters.
The longer the brutal occupation lasts, the more determined the women are to resist. And as war rages around the world, each is holding onto the hope that the other is alive.
Beautifully told and compulsively written, When Sleeping Women Wake is an utterly transporting story of female resistance and untold bravery, at once epic and intimate, heartbreaking and hopeful.
Perfect for fans of Lisa See, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and Kristin Hannah.
'A lushly romantic and impassioned story of women's agency and resilience' JUHEA KIM
'Compelling, beautiful, and deeply moving . . . [a] stunning tale of love, loyalty and survival' WEINA DAI RANDEL
'A breathtaking, important story of family, love and endurance . . . historical fiction at its finest' WIZ WHARTON
'Gorgeous and expansive' STYLIST
Hong Kong, 1941. Following the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the wealthy Tang family flee to Hong Kong.
As the First Wife of the family, Mingzhu leads a sheltered - if lonely - existence overseeing her daughter Qiang and managing the household alongside her devoted maid, Biyu.
But when the Japanese army invade, the three women are scattered. Mingzhu is coerced into working for a Japanese captain. Qiang and Biyu escape the island, only to be forced into factory work then separated after an encounter with the East River Column Resistance fighters.
The longer the brutal occupation lasts, the more determined the women are to resist. And as war rages around the world, each is holding onto the hope that the other is alive.
Beautifully told and compulsively written, When Sleeping Women Wake is an utterly transporting story of female resistance and untold bravery, at once epic and intimate, heartbreaking and hopeful.
Perfect for fans of Lisa See, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and Kristin Hannah.
'A lushly romantic and impassioned story of women's agency and resilience' JUHEA KIM
'Compelling, beautiful, and deeply moving . . . [a] stunning tale of love, loyalty and survival' WEINA DAI RANDEL
'A breathtaking, important story of family, love and endurance . . . historical fiction at its finest' WIZ WHARTON
About the author
Emma Pei Yin is a UK-born and raised Hong Kong Chinese writer. She writes for publications including Mekong Review, Being Asian Australian, HerCanberra, Aniko Press, Hong Kong Review and Books + Publishing. Her YA manuscript, Chasing Echoes in the Rain, earned recognition when it was shortlisted for the Allen & Unwin Mentorship Programme. She was also nominated as BookPeople Penguin Random House Young Bookseller of 2023. She resides in Australia with her partner and an extremely barky Dachshund, Lady. When Sleeping Women Wake is her first novel.
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