The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

Description

**ALA Best New Books- September 2020** "Compelling, character-driven historical fiction inspired by true events." --Booklist, Starred Review "Moore's impressively detailed research makes this a good introduction to this often neglected chapter in American history." --Library Journal  "This meticulously researched book is unputdownable." --Historical Novel Society  A powerful story based on true events surrounding Donaldina Cameron and other brave women who fought to help Chinese-American women escape discrimination and slavery in the late 19th century in California. When Donaldina Cameron arrives at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls in 1895, she intends to stay for only one year to teach sewing skills to young Chinese women. Within days, she discovers that the job is much more complicated than perfect stitches and even hems. San Francisco has a dark side, one where a powerful underground organization--the criminal tong--buys and sells Chinese girls like common goods. With the help of Chinese interpreters and a local police squad, Donaldina works night and day to stop the abominable slave and prostitution trade.Mei Lien believes she is sailing to the "Gold Mountain" in America to become the wife of a rich Chinese man.Instead she finds herself sold into prostitution--beaten, starved, and forced into an opium addiction. It is only after a narrow escape that she hears of the mission home and dares to think there might be hope for a new life.The Paper Daughters of Chinatown throws new light on the age-old scourge of human trafficking. The heroes who fought this evil and the victims who triumphed over it more than a hundred years ago offer a bright example of courage and determination for anyone wishing for a better world.