Book Description
This masterful biographical novel—which has sold more than 100,000 copies—tells the true life story of Lalu Nathoy, a young Chinese girl sold into slavery in 1871 by her poverty-stricken family and auctioned off in the American West. McCunn tells the gripping tale of how Lalu struggled out of servitude to achieve a life of freedom and dignity as a pioneer woman."A valuable book that gives Chinese Americans another true heroine." —Maxine Hong Kingston

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Lalu Nathoy's father called his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his "thousand pieces of gold," yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloonkeeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. This biographical novel is the extraordinary story of one woman's fight for independence and dignity in the American West.

FROM THE CRITICS

Anne Alexander - Anne Alexander,Peninsula Times Tribune

Lalu is a living, vital person from page one until her death￯﾿ﾽ[She] emerges as a person of dignity, intelligence, devotion, even humor. Author McCunn has given me a friend I'll never forget.

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston - Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston,San Francisco Chronicle

[A] story of struggle and survival as a woman-and slave-in China and the American West￯﾿ﾽFast-paced and entertaining-packed with adventure, drama, and inspiration.

Elena Brunet - Elena Brunet,Los Angeles Times

Ruthanne Lum McCunn has woven an enthralling work of fiction from the true-life story of Lalu Nathoy.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING