What a delight uncomplicated reading. Switching from the past to present was uncomplicated unlike some recent readings. A fare historical description but masks the real isolation, despair and racism of the goldfields.
The american mining engineer is the carpet bager of old making promises, taking the $ and leaving town. His relationship with Angie came at a good time for her where Richard her lamdlord is the salt of the earth. ( )

This was ok, although it was somewhat different to what I had expected. The description was quite promising: two women from Sydney arrive in the Australian gold rush town of Millbroke, Amy in 1872, Angie in the present day. Alternating between the two storylines, Angie, who rents the house Amy used to live in, sets out to piece together Amy's life. This could have been really good, and it had some interesting and captivating elements, for the most part though it turned out to be just chick lit - not bad, but simplistic. That said, it was a quick and easy fun read, and it held my interest sufficiently to have me finish it within a day. ( )

Mr Chen's Emporium is set in a small Goldrush town in outback New South Wales. The novel contrasts the Millbrooke of 1870 with the Millbrooke of today. In 1870 Amy Chen has been recalled to Millbrooke to care for her ailing mother. She is young, romantic, and somewhat stifled by her strict clergyman father. She meets Mr Chen who runs an Emporium in the township and despite her fathers disapproval and the towns predjudice against the 'celestials' falls in love.

In the present day Angie has come to visit Millbrooke with her girlfriends. She is mourning the loss of her husband and discovers Millbrooke as a refuge in which to restart her life. She falls in love with the Manse which is where Amy's family lived and despite the concerns of her sons and friends makes the move. As she becomes a part of the community she finds a few of Amy's things hidden away and forms a connection.

The two stories are beautifully intertwined. Without ever knowing each other the two women become important to each other and as readers we see the parallels between their lives.

This book was a joy to read. It was funny and sad and uplifting and in the end compelling. I really needed to know what happened to both of these women. I became invested in their lives just as Angie became invested in Amy's. ( )

In the present day, newly widowed Angela makes an impulsive decision to escape the city and move to Millbrooke during a weekend trip to the country. Intrigued by the history of her new home, the ‘Old Manse’, Angie is thrilled to discover a cache of keepsakes that likely belonged to the young woman that once lived there.
More than a century before, eighteen year old Amy Duncan locked away her most treasured possessions before eloping from her family home with the man she loved. A ‘chinaman’ raised by a local wealthy white family, Mr Charles Chen won her heart on her first visit to his Emporium in Millbrooke’s main street.
In Deborah O’Brien’s debut novel, Mr Chen’s Emporium, Angie’s and Amy’s parallel stories of loss, heartbreak, passion and love unfold.

It is the story of Amy, a bright young woman coming of age in 1872, that I found the most appealing in Mr Chen’s Emporium. The daughter of a clergyman, Amy returns to her family, living in the small Gold Rush town of Millbrooke, after several years spent with her aunt, in order to help her ailing mother. I liked Amy’s mix of spirit and innocence, naive and dutiful she had an unexpected core of strength and passion that is appealing. Though her father demands plain modesty and piety, Amy is delighted by the exotic wares she discovers in Mr Chen’s Emporium, and is as equally as fascinated by it’s owner. Despite the prejudices of both her father and many in the wider community, Amy falls in love with Charles Chen, and he with her. I would have liked to have learnt more about Amy and her relationship with Charles immediately following their marriage, and the repercussions of her choice which are glossed over in favour of a summary of sorts.

As a new widow, Angie is still grieving the sudden loss of her husband when she decides a change of scenery could offer her peace of mind. She rents the Old Manse with a view to buy, and begins to renovate it as well as teach art classes in the dining room. I was sympathetic to Angie’s need to fill her days, and even understood her deciding to take on a boarder, Jack, for both practical and emotional reasons. Unfortunately it was Angie’s relationship with Jack that soured me on her character. While I can see how the author perhaps felt the societal disapproval between Amy’s love for Charles and Angie’s dalliance with Jack could compare, I didn’t find it an appropriate parallel. Angie’s behaviour crosses a line for me, even though she may be able to wield the excuse of her grief and his wife’s distance.

Though there are broad points of synchronicity within the dual narratives of Angie and Amy the links are mainly conceptual rather than concrete. I would have liked to have seen the author create a stronger connection between the two women, for example Amy could have been a budding painter, or Angie’s deceased husband could have had Chinese heritage. I did appreciate the structure of the story, framed by the seasons and moving clearly between Now and Then, though again I felt the opportunity to draw more obvious parallels between the lives of the women were missed.
However the novel does have its charms, the modern day Millbrooke comes alive and the historical period of the late 1800′s on the goldfields, though only briefly sketched, is fascinating. The supporting characters in both eras are well drawn, I especially liked the ambitious Eliza, determined to study medicine in a time when such a thing was thought unbecoming, and Richard even though his reclusive manner branded him a little odd. I also enjoyed the idle chatter of Angie’s painting class ladies, and I love platypi, such interesting creatures!

I find it interesting that O’Brien plans a sequel to Mr Chen’s Emporium and I am curious to see what happens next in Millbrooke. Mr Chen’s Emporium, is a light, engaging novel which I think would particularly appeal to readers of historical and romantic fiction. ( )