These Violent Delights

Juliette, one of the protagonists, is the daughter and heir of Lord Cai, the leader of the Scarlet Gang. At the beginning of the novel, she is 19 years old and has recently returned to Shanghai from New York City. Four years prior, Juliette fell in love with Roma Montagov, but their relationship ended when Roma betrayed Juliette by helping the White Flowers attack her family home. The trauma Juliette experiences from the murders of people close to her and the betrayal of her first love cause her to become brash, impulsive, and haughty. She prides herself in the power her father’s gang wields over the city and sees herself as a hero fighting for her people. She views the violence between the White Flowers and the Scarlet Gang as necessary, since she thinks the Scarlet Gang have the right to protect their territory. Juliette is determined to prove herself as worthy of being the heir to the Scarlet Gang by impressing her father and threatening her challengers, including her cousin Tyler. She purposely puts on a façade of being crueler than she is to hide her emotions. She does not want to admit vulnerability, especially not to Roma.