Book Review: Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel
Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel is a gripping, poignant novel inspired by the true story of two remarkable individuals who defied terror with compassion during one of history’s darkest hours. Set in Nazi-occupied Vienna and war-torn Shanghai, the novel is a haunting testament to the power of courage, sacrifice, and unlikely friendship in the face of overwhelming evil.
The story follows two intertwined narratives: Anne, a Jewish woman desperate to escape the tightening grip of Nazi persecution in Austria, and Ho Fengshan, the Chinese consul in Vienna who issued thousands of unauthorized visas to Jewish refugees, offering a lifeline when most doors were closing. When Anne and her daughter arrive in Shanghai — a city beset by its own wartime chaos — they must navigate the brutal realities of displacement and survival while never giving up hope.
Randel’s storytelling is elegant and immersive, her prose steeped in emotional nuance and historical authenticity. She paints Vienna with a chilling beauty and renders Shanghai with raw, evocative detail — capturing both the city’s refuge and its peril. But it is the interior lives of the characters that leave the deepest mark. Anne’s quiet resilience and maternal strength, paired with Ho’s quiet heroism and moral clarity, anchor the novel in deep humanity.
Night Angels is more than a historical novel — it is a love letter to the forgotten heroes who risked everything to do what was right. Weina Dai Randel brings light to a little-known story of Chinese resistance to the Holocaust with grace and reverence. It’s a novel that stirs the conscience, breaks the heart, and reminds us that even in the darkest times, there are those who choose to be the light.
About Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel
1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.
But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.
Inspired by a remarkable true story, Night Angels explores the risks brave souls took and the love and friendship they built and lost while fighting against incalculable evil.
