Shanghai Gothic novel a delight

Shanghai Gothic novel a delight

A change in circumstances can help people reinvent themselves — or reveal who they really are. In The Fourth Princess: A Gothic Novel of Old Shanghai, Janie Chang uses the genre of a Gothic novel to show how people’s choices can affect not only their own lives, but also those of the people around them.

Chang is the author of historical fiction novels such as Three Souls, Dragon Springs Road and The Porcelain Moon. She is originally from Taiwan but has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand and Canada (she’s now in B.C.). Her family history and ancestral stories are frequently inspiration for events in her novels.

The Fourth Princess is set in Shanghai, China, mainly in 1907 and 1911. The story begins with a sale notice for Lennox Manor, a house just outside the city, before describing the actions of Lisan Liu, an orphan who has been raised by the kindly but distant guardian Master Liu.

Lisan has no memory of her early life. As the story begins, she is on her way for a job interview — an initiative she has taken without her guardian’s knowledge — with Caroline Vessey, an American. When she returns home after a successful interview, her guardian and his brother hold secret discussions about Lisan before finally allowing her to become Mrs. Vessey’s live-in private secretary at Lennox Manor.

Physician watchdog under fire for ‘outrageous’ policy

The Manitoba physician watchdog’s policy of deferring its own investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct while a police probe is ongoing is “outrageous” and is further evidence an independent review is needed into the regulatory body, critics say.

Wyatt vows to continue serving as city councillor despite facing new charges

Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt arrived at city hall Thursday, vowing to continue doing his job after additional criminal charges were laid against him this week.

Wyatt, 56, was charged Monday with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance in relation to an October 2023 incident. The councillor was previously charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance in March, based on allegations tied to a 2025 gathering.

On Thursday, Wyatt quickly walked to his office after entering city hall around 10:20 a.m., about 50 minutes after the East Kildonan-Transcona community committee meeting he planned to attend was scheduled to begin. He walked briskly to his office, answering few questions from reporters.

“I’m here for a public hearing,” he said.

PM visit a chance to rectify Tofino mistake: chief

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Justin Trudeau's visit was a chance to move forward, Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir said Monday, even as she rebuked the prime minister for ignoring her first invitations to join the community for Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

With Trudeau sitting beside her and the former Kamloops Indian Residential School looming in the background, Casimir said his visit was "bittersweet." She said she hoped he'd been there on Sept. 30 to interact with survivors and "show his commitment to rectifying the historical wrongs of residential school and to grieve with our residential school survivors."

"Instead, in the middle of truth telling, cultural grounding and sharing that unfolded as part of the commemoration of the very first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, in this arbour, a journalist quietly informed us that the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was on vacation in Tofino," Casimir said.

"The shock, anger and sorrow and disbelief was palpable in our community."

Province giving seniors $200 for pandemic expenses; others need help too, critics say

A $200 cheque will soon be in the mail to all Manitoba seniors — whether they need it or not — to deal with additional costs associated with the pandemic.

"Seniors built this province," Premier Brian Pallister said Tuesday at a teleconference announcing the $45-million Seniors Economic Recovery Credit going to an estimated 225,000 Manitobans age 65 and older, regardless of income.

"We owe them a debt of gratitude for making Manitoba a wonderful place."

But if Manitoba is going to remain a wonderful place after the pandemic, the province should be targeting help towards those most in need, critics say. Just 14 per cent of Manitoba seniors who will be receiving a $200 cheque this month live below the poverty line, according to Statistics Canada's market basket measure, which determines the official poverty line. According to 2016 Census data from Manitoba, it's $18,272 for a single person in Winnipeg.