Under the black coulds, book 2 in the Moments in Shanghai series, is set from 1933-1942. It is inspired in part by the life of my mother and her caring father-a witty, artistic businessman, but unfaithful husband-and his illiterate, superstitious, strong-headed wife. We lived with them in an English and American concession, after my uncles left. The novel depicts (in a whimsical style) the way of life and traditional customs in the war period of Shanghai. It touches on the subjects of love, betrayal, suicide, heaven, Buddhism, Taoism, foreign worship, racism, boycotts, patriotism, revolution, communism, through the eyes of Shuxian, her brother Bao, her parents and her uncle. Under the smoldering black clouds, in what Shuxian thought of as the war of the smoke, everything was blurred. She grew up and her world expanded as did her ambitions and confusion. The same happened to her brother and also her uncle, whose inner conflicts caused his early death. In this book, Jenny Qin Zhou shows how average people suffered from the ravages of war on both sides of the conflict, while at the same time deep love could flourish between a Chinese girl and a Japanese musician who remained single even more than ten years after the death of his fiancée. While struggling to survive, the people of Shanghai transformed Coca Cola into "tadpole bit wax" and created the dish "Dragons Fighting with Book Guardians." What? you may ask, and why? You'll find the answers as you read.