Sophie Wan

audio fiction (10 hr 53 min, ~8hr20min at 1.1x, published March 2024) - 27 y.o. Lulu reluctantly accepts a marriage proposal from Harv in order to help with the finances of her village family; she misses the hostess job she loves that she gave up to appease her rich mother-in-law. With her friends (unhappily married Jane and frustrated careerwoman Rina) she plots to steal all the gift money on her wedding day. Takes place in present-day Shanghai, China.

A fun read; I enjoyed the dynamics of the friendship between the three women (the getaway driver Mei, who is incidentally asexual, is fun too).

December 2024 bingo challenge: red cover [includes preface and epilogue]… (more)

What fun to find a seemingly predictable book that goes off the rails! This one takes place in Shanghai, where three best friends are struggling with their disappointing mid-30s lives when abruptly, hope glimmers in the form of a daring daylight ripoff. Lulu is a gorgeous restaurant hostess who is engaged to one of the wealthiest men in the city, but she doesn't really know him or love him, and his mother is a hatebeast. Jane's mother has always distained her daughter for her lack of good looks. She's unhappily married to a tech dudebro and they've got nothing in common, so expensive plastic surgery is Jane's ladder to a happier life. Rina works incredibly long hours at a difficult job and is denied a promotion because she's expected to get married, have children, and quit. The solution to all these woes? Steal the wedding haul right out from under the groom's horrible mother, run away to Thailand, and live happily ever after, of course. All the planning and scheming is the best part of a sometimes silly plot containing some minor holes, but it's a joyous audio book for a short or long commute.… (more)

TW/CW: Implied sex (nothing graphic), crime, classism, sexism

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Graydon House Books and am voluntarily writing an honest review.

Women of Good Fortune is the story of three working-class women in Shanghai who prepare for a heist when one of them becomes engaged to an ultra-wealthy man.

I found this book very difficult to get into (I was at about 16% before I started enjoying it), but once I did I was glad that I powered through. This book was very entertaining and I loved the glimpses we got into the lives of the three main women. This book is very much a social commentary both on Shanghai society and on the place of women in that society and in society in general. I found myself at different points in the book both angry at the main characters, and sympathizing with them.

Although it’s slow at the start, this book is not a difficult read once you’re into it. I found this book to be fun and entertaining, and enjoyed the social commentary. I recommend this book!… (more)

The Women of Good Fortune is a fun and engaging debut from Sophie Wan.

In ten months former restaurant hostess Lulu is to marry one of Shanghai’s most eligible bachelor’s, it will be the event of the season, attended by everyone who is anyone. Lulu should be deliriously happy, or so her mother insists, but instead she is miserable and longs to escape. Her best friends are similarly unhappy with their lives, Rina is continually overlooked for promotion at work, and as such the pay rise she needs to in order to preserve her fertility, while Jane, convinced her appearance has doomed her to a life of mediocrity, desperately wants plastic surgery. When Jane floats the outrageous idea of stealing the generous cash gifts expected at the wedding as a solution to all of their woes, the temptation proves irresistible and the friends plan a daring heist.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Lulu, Jane and Rina, Women of Good Fortune unfolds over a period of about a year. As preparations for Lulu’s wedding continue under the dictatorial rule of her monstermother-in-law-to-be, the trio also work feverishly to devise a foolproof plan to get away with the cash.

The plans for the heist are pretty complex but it’s fun to see how the women go about solving each challenge, from enlisting the services of a counterfeiter, to flirting with the best man. I enjoyed the bursts of humour, and there are some tense moments too, with last minute complications threatening to ruin everything.

The three friends are interesting women, all quite different from each other. Lulu is the most sympathetic of the character’s, while Jane is probably the least likeable. The story is well grounded in its cultural setting, from the casual mentions of social touchstones, to the descriptions of traditions, yet Wan manages to communicate the universality of women’s experience as her protagonists grapple with their issues. Wan explores subjects such as the value of friendship, the management of family expectations, the desire for independence, and the importance of self worth, among others.

I found Women of Good Fortune to be an entertaining, smart and satisfying novel.… (more)