The first book in the Shanghai Quartet - City Rising - starts on the Hua Shan (the Holy Mountain) 250 years before Christ where the FIRST EMPEROR the most powerful man the world to that time had ever known bequeaths a talisman to his three trusted followers: the BodyGuard, his favorite Courtesan and his Head Confucian - a narwhal tusk with carvings depicting the growth for the next 2500 years of a city at the Bend in the River - Shanghai. The warning from the First Emperor before he commits suicide is to watch for the White Ships on Water - and so the progeny of the three who are entrusted with the Tusk do - and then - in 1841 - they arrive. British Men of War ships - and Opium.

City Rising tells the story of two destitute Baghdadi boys who become opium lords - and the battles against the powerful British Opium companies - and the boys' eventual love of the City at the Bend in the River - Shanghai.

David Rotenberg is a professor emeritus of theatre studies at York University, where he taught graduate students for over 25 years. He has released 12 novels which have been published by Penguin, Simon and Schuster, McArthur and Company, St. Martin's Press, and ECW. His novels have been optioned in the past for major motion picture adaptation. City Rising is presently in negotiation with London producers. He I s the founder and artistic director of the world-renowned actor training institute - Pro Actors Lab. His historical fiction novel entitled, City Rising is based on true events and explores the epic stories of the Iraqi-Jews, and the prominent Chinese families of the renowned port city across several centuries. It will be published by At Bay Press in the Fall of 2023.

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"An epic [series] spanning thousands of years with larger-than-life characters and page-turning qualities.”
– MacLeans

“Rotenberg’s take on the street life, bureaucracy, and sheer mass of Shanghai cleverly captures a wonderful, baffling city." – Toronto Star

“A massive, fascinating, and powerful [series] that spans genres, maybe confounds them. [Rotenberg] possesses a prodigious memory for atmosphere and place.” – Jurgen Gothe

“Immersive, engrossing, and transporting.” Dan Kalla, bestselling author of Night Over Shanghai