Dear Reader,

China doesn’t feel repressive. We are on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, crowded with couples, young families and tourist groups.

The horizon is filled with futuristic looking skyscrapers; the city feels like a glitzy and glamorous version of Mumbai, more modern than even Chicago.

Let’s walk to the Bund, the historic street on the Huangpu river, where the colonial powers lived. Here’s where the British built their clock towers and warehouses. It’s a world I know vividly from Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, a historical novel that follows the lives of two sisters in 1939 who move from Shanghai to LA.

Then a Timeout Shanghai listing with Seven Shanghai Bookstores pops up. Two bookstores are right here - so that’s where we go.

On Fuzhou road we spot the Shanghai Ancient Bookstore.

No English books here. Still, we spend ages walking through its four floors, admiring the painting studio, the calligraphy scrolls and ancient texts on display.

Across the road is the Foreign Languages Bookstore. Inside a theme song from the Harry Potter films plays in the background. We see books by David Baldacci, Robin Cook, Charles Dickens, Chimmamanda Ngozie Adichie and Norwegian Nobel prize winner Jon Fosse - all in English.

What about some Chen Cao murder mystery books - the police inspector in this series is based right here in Shanghai. I’ve been hooked to these mysteries for months now, watching Chen navigate the complexities of modern China, solving murders while he balances........

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