The Master Jeweler

• Author: Weina Dai Randel
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Publication Date: June 24, 2025
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Night Angels comes the epic story of a brilliant young woman’s dangerous rise to fame in the perilous world of jewelry in 1920s Shanghai―and the power of love and friendship.

Harbin, China, 1925. Fifteen-year-old Anyu Zhang discovers a priceless Fabergé egg in the snow and returns it to the owner, Isaac Mandelburg, a fugitive and former master jeweler for Russia’s imperial palace. In gratitude, he leaves her his address in Shanghai and a promise of hospitality, forever altering her fate.

A dazzling world of jewelry shrouded in secrecy and greed awaits, when later Anyu arrives at Mandelburg’s jewelry shop as an orphan. Single-minded and relentless, Anyu will stop at nothing until she masters the craft of jewelry making. But she soon finds herself entangled in the treacherous underbelly of the city, where violent gangsters stalk the streets, vicious rivals seek to exploit her, and obsessive collectors conspire to destroy the people she loves.

From snow-crowned land to diamond-sparkling showrooms to a pristine island on the brink of war, The Master Jeweler chronicles an exciting journey of a bold prodigy artisan―including her losses and triumphs―in a glamorous yet perilous world of treasure.

I was originally introduced to the work of Weina Dai Randel through her Empress of Bright Moon duology, and found her writing entrancing. When I discovered that she wrote a book about Jews escaping the Holocaust by fleeing to China, and devoured that one despite not reading Holocaust fiction for the most part. I made an exception because it was about a different element of the wartime experience than I didn’t know much about, and loved The Last Rose of Shanghai. So this one caught my attention, and I’m so glad I was approved for it.

The Jewish community’s presence in Harbin, China dates back to 1898, with Jews fleeing antisemitic violence in Russia and Europe, better social status, and seeking out new economic opportunities with the development of the Chinese Eastern Railway. While I did know that there was a Jewish community in Harbin, I didn’t know much about it other than that it was there, and Harbin is an exceptionally cold city. So reading about a young girl from Harbin who finds a bag containing a Fabergé egg which enchants her and leads her to cross paths unwittingly with a master jeweler who worked for the Imperial Family before the Russian Revolution. Now a fugitive, Anyu’s interaction with Isaac Mandelburg lasts no more than a few moments, but in gratitude for returning his bag, he gives her his address in Shanghai and offers her hospitality if she ever comes to Shanghai. 

Anyu can’t stop thinking about the Fabergé egg, and how beautiful it was. It wasn’t long before a tragedy leaves her with no option other than heading to Shanghai and tracking down the jeweler. All she wants is the opportunity to learn how to become a jeweler, even after being told multiple reasons why: the legacy of jewelry making was passed down from father to son for centuries, and definitely not shared with outsiders; she wasn’t part of the family; and the big one, that there weren’t female jewelry makers. She takes a job working in the failing Mandelburg jewelry store, but doesn’t have much skill at sales, and has a single-mindedness in her desire to learn how to make jewelry. 

I loved the characters. Anyu is stubborn and determined, and no one can stop her if she has her mind set on something. She’s a bit dazzled when she makes it to Shanghai, because it is a much busier (and dangerous) city than she realizes. It isn’t long before she realizes that the Mandelburgs are being extorted by a local gang, and shortly we realize the depth of Anyu’s will. The Mandelburgs are the only people in the world that she has, and they become sort of a replacement family for her, with Isaac and his brother, along with Isaac’s son and daughter. His daughter, Esther, butts heads with her father over Anyu’s presence. She has learned enough of the world to be leery of strangers and even worse, coming from a country where Jews were persecuted and treated as second class citizens, she has no desire to interact with outsiders. 

Anyu is such a complex character—a mixture of Chinese upbringing and having to survive by her wits and skills, she comes across as morally gray, and at times, she’s unlikable. But she is also unshakably loyal, even at risk to herself, and she’s got a lot to learn about surviving in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s, even as war creeps closer and Shanghai is occupied by Japanese soldiers. I warmed a lot more to Anyu as the story went on, and she shows immense amounts of growth, almost as if this is a coming-of-age book set in the Gilded Age version of Shanghai. The dazzling world of jewelry turns out to be unexpectedly dangerous, and Anyu walks into this danger blindly at first, but her choice that time ends up working out well for her. She makes a lot of choices as she ages from a naïve teenager to an adult who has seen dizzying highs and staggering lows. One constant is that she always takes responsibility for her actions.

The side characters in the book feel so real, and having access to the audiobook made them feel even more real. Christine Lin narrates the book, and she does outstanding with Chinese words, the Shanghai dialect, and some solid European accents. It made the reading feel much more immersive for me, and echoes the same heavily Russian and Yiddish accented speech I’ve heard my entire life. Over time, the Mandelburgs grow to see Anyu as a family member, and it was so interesting to see the intersection of Jewish refugees with the rich culture and life of Shanghai. 

We do get a view of the Chinese experience through Anyu, and especially her jewelry creating process, where she often chooses a design that is reminiscent of Chinese culture, such as an animal with symbolic meaning to Chinese people. However, there’s also a good view into what life was like as a stateless Jew in the 1930s and 1940s, feeling as if no place is safe. I felt like this one did a good job of exploring two very different cultures on the surface, and highlighting the commonalities. 

Despite having the skills to make glamorous and exclusive jewelry, Anyu’s journey is not an easy one. She makes poor choices and good ones, and I mourned her difficult and ultimately bad choices, and celebrated her accomplishments with her.  There is a very angsty master/apprentice relationship, with Isaac being significantly older than Anyu and trying to maintain the status quo without leading her on. Anyu has more than just this one romance, there are a total of three, but I loved seeing what each relationship brought to Anyu and helped her learn. 

Ultimately, this is an outstanding book, and the audiobook is fantastic. I loved seeing all the complex interactions between the characters, and especially enjoyed how the relationship between Anyu and Esther went from adversarial and unwelcoming (on Esther’s side) to a real, solid friendship that nothing gets in the way of. I found it fascinating to get so much insight into this period in China and especially Shanghai, and even more so to the whole process of jewelry making. I’m not sure why I was surprised to learn that their devotion to the art of jewelry making had terrible effects on so many body systems. But this was a book I found to be immensely enjoyable and impressively researched. 

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