Book Group: The Phoenix Crown

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Program Description

Event Details

Join us for the Pacific Beach Library's monthly book discussion!  Our group meets in a hybrid format, so you can choose whether you'd prefer to join us in-person in the PB Library's Community Room or virtually (please send an email to cwainwright@sandiego.gov for this year's Zoom login info).  May's selection is The Phoenix Crown  by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang.

Description: San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing's fallen Summer Palace. His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.

 

If you'd like to check out a print copy of the book, they are available 1 month before each discussion at the Pacific Beach Library's Circulation Desk.  Please call 858-581-9934 x0 before coming to pick it up so that staff may confirm availability.

Book Discussion Calendar

  • January 9, 2025: Select titles to discuss in 2025
  • February 13: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store  by James McBride
  • March 23: The Gambler Wife  by Andrew D. Kaufman
  • April 10: The Color of Water  by James McBride
  • May 8: The Phoenix Crown  by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang
  • June 12: South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation  by Imani Perry
  • July 10: How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States  by Daniel Immerwahr
  • August 14: 1984  by George Orwell 
  • September 11: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China  by Jung Chang
  • October 9: The Women  by Kristin Hannah
  • November 13: One Book, One San Diego selection (to be announced)
  • December 11: The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth  by Zoë Schlanger
  • January 8, 2026: Select titles to discuss in 2026
  • February 12, 2026: James  by Percival Everett

Accessibility

Need disability-related modifications or accommodations? Information and program content can be made available in alternative formats upon request by emailing JFRogers@sandiego.gov.