As I’ve mentioned before
I love my two book clubs because they introduce me to books I’ve not heard of.
Today I’m discussing The Girl Who Wrote
In Silk by Kelli Estes, a USA Today bestseller, and I can see why it is.
The book combines the
story of a Chinese girl in the late 1800s and a girl from modern times. The
prologue starts with Mei Lien on a ship in Puget Sound leaving Seattle and she is
thrown overboard.
Chapter one has us
meeting Inara Erickson on a ferry with her sister heading for Orcas island
where she and her family spent summers at their Aunt Dahlia’s home. Aunt Dahlia
had recently died and left her home to Inara.
As she and her sister are
exploring the house, Inara finds a piece of fabric hidden in the house that is an
elaborately stitched sleeve that tells a story with pictures.
Against her father’s
wishes, Inara wants to live on the island and turn the larger part of the house
into a boutique hotel. He humors her at first giving her a loan to start fixing
it up figuring she’ll change her mind and then she could sell it at a greater
profit.
However, after finding
the silk sleeve with the pictures, she contacts a professor at a Seattle
university, who has a Chinese background and teaches Chinese history. He’s fascinated by
it, and together they try to research and find out who was the Chinese woman
who embroidered this beautiful piece of work.
Inara (and through this
book) we find out the horrors the Chinese immigrants faced in the 1800s not
only in Seattle, but in the western states.
In a conversation written
with the author of this debut novel, she said that in 2002 she was researching
the history of the San Juan Islands for a historical romance when she
discovered a smuggler, who rather than get caught with his illegal cargo of
Chinese immigrants in the 1900s chose to bash them over their heads and throw
them overboard. From reading that story grew the story of Mei Lien and on to
the connection Inara had through her family ancestors.
It is a powerful book,
and although I’d heard the Chinese were looked down on in the past and not
treated well, I had no idea of the horrors they faced. The story was both
tragic at times and touching, too. Mei Lien is rescued and the man who rescues
her keeps her hidden from others on the island because he knows what could
happen to her if she is found. I don’t want to give too many details so all I
can say is that it’s a book I highly recommend. When this blog is up, I’ll be
attending the book club where it will be discussed. I’ve heard from a few who
already read it how much they liked it, and I’m sure tonight it will be a very
interesting discussion.
How much did you know
about how the Chinese immigrants were treated in the 1800s?
For me, the importance of such a story isn’t in its history, of which I know a fair piece, but in its reflection of events today.
ReplyDelete~ Jim
A good review of what promises to be an interesting read. Thanks, Gloria
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a a page turner.
ReplyDeleteJim, you're right about that. I didn't know how horrible it was until I read the book, but I do know that so many immigrants are looked down upon. In California where my daughter lives she has workers who are remodeling her kitchen who are Hispanic, and she really likes them. Also in the hospital where she works, her big (a small guy) boss is Chinese, and she works with a lot who are of different ethnics and gets along with all of them. The only one she doesn't like is a woman who is a recent hire who looks down on blacks, Hispanics and others
ReplyDeletelike that.
Margaret, it is a good read, and I'm looking forward to the discussion this evening of it at my book club.
Warren, it is. I lost a lot of sleep because I didn't want to put it down and turn out the light.
This is intriguing. Man's inhumanity to man will always be fodder for literature. Thanks for sharing this book with us.
ReplyDeleteCarla, I know you'll enjoy it. I'll be choosing The Stone Necklace for both of my book clubs,
ReplyDeletetoo, when it's my turn to choose a book.
You and your book clubs find some fascinating things to read, Gloria.
ReplyDeleteWhile teaching special ed in an alternative high school, we'd often read books based on things that happened in history or other cultures. Often the kids would be inspired to do some research.