The Manor of Dreams
A totally addictive gothic page-turner
Will be published approx. on 7. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-4087-4891-6 (ISBN)
Description
They say what you don't know can't hurt you. But they're wrong. Silence can be deadly.
Vivian Yin is dead. The trailblazing starlet was the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar -- but at what should have been the peak of her career, she became a recluse, her life shrouded in mystery.
Now, her daughters, Lucille and Renata, and her granddaughter, Lily, are gathered for the reading of her will, expecting to inherit the sprawling California garden estate Vivian hadn't left in years.
Instead, thanks to a last-minute change to her will, the house is passed on to someone else: Elaine Deng and her daughter Nora. Lucille and Renata are shocked - they haven't spoken to Elaine for decades. Not since the tragedy that fractured all of their lives.
Vying for the estate, both families move into the crumbling, vine-covered manor. As Vivian's daughters sift through the remnants of her life looking for clues about her death, they discover they are being haunted by something far more sinister than their memories...
Will the families uncover the truth before it's too late to save the next generation? Or will the manor of dreams - and its deadly secrets - finally lay claim to its owners?
The Manor of Dreams is full to the brim with romance, betrayal, ambition and sacrifice; an addictive page-turner that examines how families pass down the cost of silence. This atmospheric gothic page-turner is Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Vivian Yin is dead. The trailblazing starlet was the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar -- but at what should have been the peak of her career, she became a recluse, her life shrouded in mystery.
Now, her daughters, Lucille and Renata, and her granddaughter, Lily, are gathered for the reading of her will, expecting to inherit the sprawling California garden estate Vivian hadn't left in years.
Instead, thanks to a last-minute change to her will, the house is passed on to someone else: Elaine Deng and her daughter Nora. Lucille and Renata are shocked - they haven't spoken to Elaine for decades. Not since the tragedy that fractured all of their lives.
Vying for the estate, both families move into the crumbling, vine-covered manor. As Vivian's daughters sift through the remnants of her life looking for clues about her death, they discover they are being haunted by something far more sinister than their memories...
Will the families uncover the truth before it's too late to save the next generation? Or will the manor of dreams - and its deadly secrets - finally lay claim to its owners?
The Manor of Dreams is full to the brim with romance, betrayal, ambition and sacrifice; an addictive page-turner that examines how families pass down the cost of silence. This atmospheric gothic page-turner is Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Reviews / Votes
Richly imagined... Fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic ought to take note of this beautiful and haunting novel. * Publishers Weekly * Packed with gothic plot, gushing blood, choking clods of dirt, and angry ghosts-a smorgasbord for devotees. * Kirkus * The Manor of Dreams is a bejeweled puzzle box to unlock. * Shelf Awareness * An atmospheric thriller that tackles what some people must pay for the great American dream. * Reader's Digest * A lushly crafted haunted house gothic, full of family secrets and forbidden romance and grounded in Hollywood's long history of racism and patriarchy. * CrimeReads * A true modern classic. The Manor of Dreams is beautiful, eerie and woven with enough intrigue to hold all who enter captive. Christina Li remains unmatched in breathing characters to life - and the hauntings thereafter * Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of Immortal Longings * The Manor of Dreams peels back the promises of the American Dream to reveal something more painful, more heartbreaking, and ultimately, more true. An ambitious, evocative meditation on the hurts passed down across generations - and how we heal * Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief * Christina Li has woven together the struggles of immigration, the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, the resentments between upstairs-downstairs "friends," and the glitz and disappointments of Hollywood to create a clever, unexpected, and lush ghost story. I curled up with The Manor of Dreams and read it over a single weekend. * Lisa See, author of Lady Tan's Circle of Women and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan * Haunting, tender, and intoxicating. Written with gorgeous prose and unforgettable characters, Li's gothic adult debut will leave you devastated until the very end, and then long after you've put the book down. * Carolyn Huynh, author of The Fortunes of Jaded Women * You know that feeling when you watch the first episode of a streaming series and instantly know you're going to binge the whole thing? That's exactly how you'll feel after reading the first chapter of this book. A part of you-a very delighted part-will immediately think, "Cancel all my plans; I'm devouring this in one sitting." And that's exactly what I did. Deliciously eerie, culturally vibrant, and historically profound-The Manor of Dreams is a dark pleasure. * Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Murray Press
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
250 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4087-4891-6 (9781408748916)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Christina Li is the award-winning author of children's books Clues to the Universe, which was a Washington Post summer book club pick, and Ruby Lost and Found, which was an NPR and New York Public Library Best Book of the Year and recognised for the Asian Pacific American Librarians' Award for Best Children's Literature. She is also the author of YA title True Love and Other Impossible Odds. She graduated from Stanford University with degrees in Economics and Public Policy. She grew up in the Midwest and California but now calls New York home. The Manor of Dreams is her adult debut.