The Last Mandarin

Name: The Last Mandarin
Price: 34.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781399753784

a gripping and terrifying contemporary political thriller

Louise Penny, Mellissa Fung

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Hodder & Stoughton
12 May 2026

Fiction & Literature; Crime & Mystery; Thriller & suspense

When security and fire alarms go off simultaneously all around the world, setting off a panic, the signal is traced back to China. As world leaders scramble to respond, mother and daughter Vivien and Alice Li are called to the White House in hopes Madame Li can decode the Chinese intentions.

Alice is a first-generation Chinese-American food blogger. A Chinese dissident who escaped China after Tiananmen Square, Vivien is now a globally recognized human rights activist and passionate advocate for a free and democratic China. While it makes some sense that the President would turn to Vivien, what isn't clear is why they'd want to talk to Alice.

Caught up in the chaos, Vivien and Alice are uniquely placed to stop the next, cataclysmic attack. But there are forces deep within both the American and Chinese governments intent on stopping mother and daughter. The estranged pair, who excels at misunderstanding each other, must figure out how to work together.

The increasingly frantic search for answers takes the women from the Oval Office to an office building in Akron, Ohio, from the noodle shops of Hong Kong to the necropolis of the first emperor. Along the way they must decode an old legend, and an old language invented by women, for women.

The Last Mandarin is the story of a mother and daughter, as well as a compelling international thriller about the precarious balance of power across the world, and within a family. And what happens when both break down.

By: Louise Penny, Mellissa Fung
Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 150mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 484g
ISBN: 9781399753784
ISBN 10: 1399753789
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 12 May 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Louise Penny (Author) Louise Penny is an international award-winning and bestselling author whose books have hit number one on the New York Times, USA Today and Globe and Mail lists. Her Chief Inspector Gamache novels have been translated into thirty-one languages and have sold over 18 million copies worldwide. She has received the Ordre National du Quebec and the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. In 2021, she co-authored the standalone thriller State of Terror with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Louise Penny lives in a village south of Montreal. Mellissa Fung (Author) Mellissa Fung is a veteran correspondent and bestselling author. She specialises in long-form journalism, traveling the world making documentaries.