China Rich Girlfriend
It's the eve of Rachel Chu's wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns that her birth father, a man she never knew, won't be there to walk her down the aisle. Then a chance accident reveals his identity.
Suddenly Rachel is drawn into a dizzying new world of Shanghai splendor, populated by China's ultra-rich — a world that makes Nick's Singaporean family seem almost restrained by comparison. Meanwhile Nick's cousin Astrid watches her marriage quietly disintegrate, and the ruthlessly ambitious former actress Kitty Pong schemes her way into Hong Kong high society.
Kevin Kwan's follow-up to Crazy Rich Asians widens the satirical lens from Singapore's old-money families to Mainland China's newly minted billionaires, keeping the same blend of social comedy, romance, and family intrigue that made the first book a bestseller.
Chinese-American economics professor engaged to Nicholas Young.
Rachel's fiancé, heir to a wealthy Singaporean family.
Nick's cousin, whose marriage quietly falls apart over the course of the book.
Former actress clawing her way into Hong Kong high society.
Reading the books in order is strongly recommended because the narrative continues directly from the events of the first book and features a large, interconnected cast of characters whose histories are established in the prequel.
The author has stated that many of the events and the extreme displays of wealth described in the novel are based on his own firsthand observations and experiences within elite social circles in Asia.
The title originates from a line in the first book where a character distinguishes between the established wealthy elite and the newer, ultra-wealthy billionaire class in Mainland China.