The Girls of Good Fortune
Kristina McMorris
From the New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday and The Ways We Hide She came from a lineage known for good fortune…by those who don't know the whole story. Portland, 1888. Amid the subterranean labyrinth of the notorious Shanghai Tunnels, a woman awakens in an underground cell, drugged and disguised. Celia soon realizes she's a "shanghaied" victim on the verge of being shipped off as forced labor, leaving behind those she loves most. Although well accustomed to adapting for survival—being half-Chinese, passing as white during an era fraught with anti-Chinese sentiment—she fears that far more than her own fate lay at stake. As she pieces together the twisting path that led to her abduction, from serving as a maid for the family of a dubious mayor to becoming entwined in the case of a goldminers' massacre, revelations emerge of a child left in peril. Desperate, Celia must find a way to escape and return to a place where unearthed secrets can prove even more deadly than the dark recesses of Chinatown. A captivating tale of resilience and hope, The Girls of Good Fortune explores the complexity of family and identity, the importance of stories that echo through generations, and the power of strength found beneath the surface.
Publication Year: 2025
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Poetic And Compelling. Usually, if a book uses a lot of flowery language and descriptions, it tends to bog the book down quite heavily. Here, McMorris actually manages to flip that script and use such poetic prose to *lift* material that is otherwise quite heavy indeed. The entire book is essentially about the perils faced by both Chinese immigrants and indeed poor people generally on the US West Coast at the nadir of the 19th century, and McMorris does a wonderful job of transporting the reader to that place and time throughout the book. The dual timeline yet single character approach is rare and useful here in creating tension in the reader, and yes, the timelines do eventually converge. Overall a rare look at an often glossed over or even outright ignored period of American history, and McMorris manages to pluck it out of relative obscurity and tell a powerful tale set in all of that era's realities - both good and bad. Very much recommended.
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