Book Review for The Fourth Princess by Janie Chang

 

The Fourth Princess by Janie Chang

Published:  February 10, 2026 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Genre:   Historical Fiction, Gothic

Taken from Goodreads:  From the internationally bestselling author of The Porcelain Moon comes a haunting Gothic novel set in 1911 China. Two young women living in a crumbling, once-grand Shanghai mansion face danger as secrets of their pasts come to light, even as the mansion’s own secret threatens the present.

Shanghai, 1911. Lisan Liu is elated when she is hired as secretary to wealthy American Caroline Stanton, the new mistress of Lennox Manor on the outskirts of Shanghai’s International Settlement. However, the Manor has a dark past due to a previous owner’s suicide, and soon Lisan’s childhood nightmares resurface with more intensity and meld with haunted visions of a woman in red. Adding to her unease is the young gardener, Yao, who both entices and disturbs her.

Newly married Caroline looks forward to life in China with her husband, Thomas, away from the shadows of another earlier tragedy. But an unwelcome guest, Andrew Grey, attends her party and claims to know secrets she can’t afford to have exposed. At the same party, the notorious princess Masako Kyo approaches Lisan with questions about the young woman’s family that the orphaned Lisan can’t answer.

As Caroline struggles with Grey’s extortion and Thomas’s mysterious illness, Lisan’s future is upended when she learns the truth about her past, and why her identity has been hidden all these years. All the while, strange incidents accelerate, driving Lisan to doubt her sanity as Lennox Manor seems unwilling to release her until she fulfills demands from beyond the grave. 

 

My Thoughts:  The Fourth Princess is a slow book.   I enjoyed it very much.  I will recommend it often. If you can push through the slowness, you will find a story with fun history and unique characters.  

Lisan is the character that I was most invested in.  I wanted to see where her story would go. I feel like there could have been more development in her relationship with Yao, the gardener, but it was interesting to learn their story.    

Thank you William Morrow Publishing for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author  (taken from her website):  Janie Chang is a bestselling author of historical fiction. Many of her novels incorporate stories drawn from family history and often include elements of fantasy. She grew up listening to stories about life in a small Chinese town in the years before the Second World War and tales of ancestors who encountered dragons, ghosts, and immortals.

Her first novel, THREE SOULS, was a finalist for the 2014 BC Book Prizes Fiction Prize; her second novel, DRAGON SPRINGS ROAD, was a Globe and Mail national bestseller. Both were nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award. THE LIBRARY OF LEGENDS was a Book of the Month Club pick, nominated for the Evergreen Award, and a Globe and Mail national bestseller. THE PORCELAIN MOON was released in February 21, 2023 and was a Globe and Mail historical fiction bestseller.  Her latest novel, THE PHOENIX CROWN, co-authored with Kate Quinn, was a Globe and Mail #1 Instant Bestseller and a USA Today bestseller.

Janie is now working on a Gothic novel set in 1911 Shanghai. 

She is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University. She was the founder and main organizer of Authors for Indies, a 100% volunteer-staffed event that promoted a national day of support by Canadian authors for Canada's independent bookstores; the event ran from 2015 - 2017 and transitioned to CanadianIndependent Bookstore Day which is organized by the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association.

Born in Taiwan, Janie has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand, and New Zealand. She now lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada with her husband and Minnie, a rescue cat who thinks the staff could do better.