THE PAPER DAUGHTERS OF CHINATOWN

In San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1890s, brothels were inhabited by enslaved young Chinese women who immigrated with the expectation of becoming brides rather than prostitutes. Nancy Wu narrates this novel based on the real life of Donaldina Cameron, the missionary who rescued, housed, and taught hundreds of such girls at the Occidental Mission Home on Sacramento Street. With an indomitable vision for providing refuge, Cameron boldly ignored the Chinese tong gangs' attempts at intimidation. Wu employs a distinctive Irish lilt to characterize Cameron and provides a menacing Asian inflection for the bullying Chinese criminals who fought Cameron's work. Wu is best at portraying the timidity and fear of the bewildered girls forced into lives of opium addiction and abuse. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2020]