Mr Chen's Emporium in Aussie Readers

Nov 20, 2013 Kathryn rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, reading-list-2014, 4-stars, australian-authors, added-because-part-of-series

After reading the sequel to this book last year (not realising that it was a sequel), I thought I should probably add the first book to my TBR. And this was as delightful read as the second (The Jade Widow) was.

This book is written in one of my favourite styles - following dual story lines in days gone by and present day, and I felt that it was very well done. The author would introduce something - a letter, a book, a photo etc - in the 1872 scene and soon after we would be re-introduced to the ...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Marg rated it liked it

Shelves: aww2012

The book opens with young Amy Duncan travelling from the thriving city of Sydney to the Gold Rush town of Millbrooke. She has been summoned there by her very strict, very narrow-minded father who is the town clergyman. For Amy, this means an end to a life with her aunt who lets her read scandalous novels (one of my favourite aspects of the book), buy pretty dresses and attend charming entertainments. In her new life, she will be expected to work hard by her mother's side looking after her siblin ...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it

Shelves: provided-by-publisher, aussie-author, arc-are

In the present day, newly widowed Angela makes an impulsive decision to escape the city and move to Millbrooke during a weekend trip to the country. Intrigued by the history of her new home, the 'Old Manse', Angie is thrilled to discover a cache of keepsakes that likely belonged to the young woman that once lived there.
More than a century before, eighteen year old Amy Duncan locked away her most treasured possessions before eloping from her family home with the man she loved. A 'chinaman' raise In the present day, newly widowed Angela makes an impulsive decision to escape the city and move to Millbrooke during a weekend trip to the country. Intrigued by the history of her new home, the 'Old Manse', Angie is thrilled to discover a cache of keepsakes that likely belonged to the young woman that once lived there.
More than a century before, eighteen year old Amy Duncan locked away her most treasured possessions before eloping from her family home with the man she loved. A 'chinaman' raised by a local wealthy white family, Mr Charles Chen won her heart on her first visit to his Emporium in Millbrooke's main street.
In Deborah O'Brien's debut novel, Mr Chen's Emporium, Angie's and Amy's parallel stories of loss, heartbreak, passion and love unfold.

It is the story of Amy, a bright young woman coming of age in 1872, that I found the most appealing in Mr Chen's Emporium. The daughter of a clergyman, Amy returns to her family, living in the small Gold Rush town of Millbrooke, after several years spent with her aunt, in order to help her ailing mother. I liked Amy's mix of spirit and innocence, naive and dutiful she had an unexpected core of strength and passion that is appealing. Though her father demands plain modesty and piety, Amy is delighted by the exotic wares she discovers in Mr Chen's Emporium, and is as equally as fascinated by it's owner. Despite the prejudices of both her father and many in the wider community, Amy falls in love with Charles Chen, and he with her. I would have liked to have learnt more about Amy and her relationship with Charles immediately following their marriage, and the repercussions of her choice which are glossed over in favour of a summary of sorts.

As a new widow, Angie is still grieving the sudden loss of her husband when she decides a change of scenery could offer her peace of mind. She rents the Old Manse with a view to buy, and begins to renovate it as well as teach art classes in the dining room. I was sympathetic to Angie's need to fill her days, and even understood her deciding to take on a boarder, Jack, for both practical and emotional reasons. Unfortunately it was Angie's relationship with Jack that soured me on her character. While I can see how the author perhaps felt the societal disapproval between Amy's love for Charles and Angie's dalliance with Jack could compare, I didn't find it an appropriate parallel. Angie's behaviour crosses a line for me, even though she may be able to wield the excuse of her grief and his wife's distance.

Though there are broad points of synchronicity within the dual narratives of Angie and Amy the links are mainly conceptual rather than concrete. I would have liked to have seen the author create a stronger connection between the two women, for example Amy could have been a budding painter, or Angie's deceased husband could have had Chinese heritage. I did appreciate the structure of the story, framed by the seasons and moving clearly between Now and Then, though again I felt the opportunity to draw more obvious parallels between the lives of the women were missed.
However the novel does have its charms, the modern day Millbrooke comes alive and the historical period of the late 1800's on the goldfields, though only briefly sketched, is fascinating. The supporting characters in both eras are well drawn, I especially liked the ambitious Eliza, determined to study medicine in a time when such a thing was thought unbecoming, and Richard even though his reclusive manner branded him a little odd. I also enjoyed the idle chatter of Angie's painting class ladies, and I love platypi, such interesting creatures!

I find it interesting that O'Brien plans a sequel to Mr Chen's Emporium and I am curious to see what happens next in Millbrooke. Mr Chen's Emporium, is a light, engaging novel which I think would particularly appeal to readers of historical and romantic fiction. ...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian, contemporary, historical-fiction, arc, aww2012

In 1872, Miss Amy Duncan is 17. Having enjoyed some time living with her Aunt Molly in Sydney, finishing her education, she finds herself recalled to her family in Millbrooke, a small mining town as her mother is ill and requires her help. Amy is reluctant, she doesn’t see eye to eye with her strict Reverend father and she enjoyed her life in Sydney with her aunt. She has romantic notions of what the mining town will be like but what she gets is a dusty street.

Each morning, Amy must buy bread ea In 1872, Miss Amy Duncan is 17. Having enjoyed some time living with her Aunt Molly in Sydney, finishing her education, she finds herself recalled to her family in Millbrooke, a small mining town as her mother is ill and requires her help. Amy is reluctant, she doesn’t see eye to eye with her strict Reverend father and she enjoyed her life in Sydney with her aunt. She has romantic notions of what the mining town will be like but what she gets is a dusty street.

Each morning, Amy must buy bread early for the family and on her way home she passes Mr Chen’s Emporium, an exotic store for the Chinese working on the goldfields, stocking the teas, silks and ornaments that remind them of home. Amy is immediately fascinated by the beautiful smells and the wonderful stock and she’s even more taken by the store’s handsome owner, Mr Charles Chen, a Chinese man who was raised by a local family after the death of his father when he was a boy.

In the present time, Angie is in need of a change. Recently widowed, her friends drag her to Millbrooke for a weekend away and she falls in love with the small town and with the Old Manse, a house up for sale, the one that Amy lived in with her family all those years ago. Her landlord who owns the grandest house in Millbrooke tells her of a trunk containing Amy’s old belongings and Angie becomes fascinated with the young girl, trying to find out what happened to her. She is also taken with the miniature of Mr Charles Chen in the local museum and is surprised to find out that the lives of the two people that fascinate her were inextricably linked.

Shifting between the harsh times of 1872 and the present day, Mr Chen’s Emporium is the story of daring to follow your dreams and your passions in a time when women did no such thing. It is a story of finding yourself and healing after a devastating loss. It’s a mix of the Oriental exotic and the dusty outback, the city and the small country town and most of all, forbidden and new love.

Mr Chen’s Emporium struck me as something I had to read from the moment I was first offered the chance to review it. I don’t read enough books that are set in Australian history, particularly the times of the Goldrush. That’s when the Chinese came to Australia in droves to try their luck and it’s what Charles Chen’s father does in this book. He is killed in an accident when Charles is just 10 but a local family take him in and raise him as a part of their family. Now, in 1872, the local ‘white’ community is half raising up in an attempt to banish the Chinese from the goldfields. It’s a dangerous time to be Chinese and also to be a Chinese that acts more white than not, one who isn’t afraid to stand up and talk about how he feels, about his people and their right to be there just as much as the other prospectors. Charles is so much a character to be admired – handsome, faultlessly polite, possessed of strong convictions and a gentle, generous nature. It’s no wonder that Amy is drawn to him from the first time she meets him and they fall in love, despite the expectations of Charles’ mother back in China for him to go back and marry a bride she has picked, and despite the fact that Amy’s father is a bible-bashing racist, horrified when Charles comes asking for Amy’s hand. She risks everything to be with the man she loves, unafraid of the consequences. I was so invested in their story! I really liked them both – Amy was smart, well-read, a good and dutiful daughter but also very much her own woman. I appreciated that.

In the modern day story we have Angie, a woman in her 50s who was recently widowed in unexpected circumstances. Seeking a change she rents a dilapidated cottage in Millbrooke that was once the home of Amy and her family which she begins to slowly spruice up, a room at a time. She finds a niche for herself in the town, meeting other women when she holds a painting class, establishing a rather offbeat friendship with her eccentric landlord Richard and becoming fascinated with Amy and Charles when she learns of their identities. It takes her some time before she realises the two were deeply connected and Angie is as invested in their story as I was as she tries to find out what happened to them. The only aspect of the story that I didn’t connect with came through Angie’s relationship with a man she takes in as a lodger, which I just couldn’t warm to even given the casual circumstances.

Mr Chen’s Emporium is a wonderful debut novel, rich with history and packed full of stories that I just couldn’t get enough of. I was so thankful when I learned thanks to a Q&A in the back of the book that there’s going to be a sequel featuring Angie. I feel as though a lot of Angie’s journey is still ahead of her so I’m glad that O’Brien is continuing her story. I really enjoyed all of the people in Millbrooke that she became friends with were funny and interesting and I can’t wait to hear more about them as well. And Richard. I loved Richard in all his eccentricity.

Can recommend this one for fans of both contemporary and historical fiction and those who love to read about country Australia.

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