The novel follows the destinies of three late-Ming courtesans, from the seamy world of girl trafficking and slavery to the cultured scene of poetry, music and theatre in Qinhuai, the decadent pleasure district of Nanjing. Jingjing is reading her mother Rushi's memoir. A wretched adolescence barely behind her, Rushi, being a courtesan, loses her true love to the tyranny of conventions. Social scorn never leaves her alone. The memoir inspires Jingjing to uncover the fates of Rushi's two sworn sisters, also courtesans. Yuanyuan is first trapped in brutal slavery and then forced to let go of her lover and enter an unhappy union with a brutish general. Xiangjun incurs corrupt courtiers' wrath when she warns her lover of their trap laid for him. When the outbreak of war plunges the three women into deeper woes, they mull over a daring idea.... In piecing the three sisters' stories together, Jingjing slowly unravels the secret of who she is

With the fate of East Asia hanging in the balance, one Mongolian woman manipulates her lovers, sons and grandsons through war and upheaval to create an empire that lasted for 250 years. The Green Phoenix tells the story of the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, born a Mongolian princess who became a consort in the Manchu court and then the Qing Dynasty s first matriarch. She lived through harrowing threats, endless political crises, personal heartaches and painful losses to lead a shaky Empire out of a dead end. The story is set against a turbulent canvas as the Chinese Ming Dynasty is replaced by the Qing. Xiaozhuang guides her husband, her lover, her son and her grandson - all emperors and supreme leaders of the Qing Empire - to success against the odds.

The story is set in colonial Hong Kong and spans four decades from the late 1940s. Historic events that took place in that period have provided inspiration for much of the story background and some of the episodes. Wendy and Diana are childhood playmates in the 50s. From their early teens, their fates take divergent paths. They become life-long enemies Wendy trudges through a miserable childhood and youth in a broken home and the only solace in her early life is the friendship of Edward, Diana's kid brother. Stomaching one mischance after another, she promises herself that there's nothing she can't overcome by sheer will. Diana seems to have come to this world just to be pampered by luck, glamour and wealth. Her father, a property tycoon whose wealth began heaping in the pre-anti-corruption days, teaches her that there's nothing money can't buy. No one has stronger faith than she in her glorious destiny. As it turns out, Wendy and Diana are both proven wrong. Before they take their final bow in the story, their paths take life-altering twists and turns......