On February 26th, 2019 we met at Julie's home to discuss her choice
"The Girl Who Wrote in Silk" which is a debut novel for
author Kelli Estes. The attendees were Doug, Donna, Sarah, Kathy,
Marsha, Betsy, Nettie, and Carol Branson.
Julie prepared a lovely chicken casserole and her world
famous Jello salad.
We had all read the book and liked it because it was an easy
read with an interesting storyline.
With all historical fiction novels, we get an opportunity to learn
something we may have not known about,
Some were not aware of the Chinese
exclusion act of 1882 which forbade Chinese from becoming
American citizens as well as forcing them to return to China.
Immigration was closed to Chinese for about 20 years,
The Chinese had come over to build
the railroad and many stayed on to make a better life for themselves.
It was the first act in America against any ethnic group and
it lasted for about 20 years.
The book pointed out the prejudice of that time
towards the Chinese and the consequent ill treatment they received which
was another shameful period in American history.
In this story they were cruelly rounded up and sent back to China in shipa
where they were murdered , thrown overboard
and never repatriated to their homeland.
Our heroine, Meilin,
survives one of these ill fated voyages and settles on one of
the islands across from Seattle in the 1800's.
Meilin is a strong young sad Chinese woman who
has lost her entire family and she embroiders a
beautiful robe for her son which tells
her family's story and the wrongs they encountered at the hands of
Duncan Campbell.. Meilin hides a sleeve of the robe under a step in her home
and it is discovered a century later by Inara, the young descendant of Duncan
Campbell when she inherits the house
The story switches back and forth from the 1990's to present day.
Inara finds a handsome Chinese professor, Daniel Wong, who is
an expert nd Chinese studies. Daniel does research on the sleeve and
unearths the shameful secret that Inara's grandfather was the captain
of the ill fated ship. Daniel also discovers he is a descendant of Meilin's.
Some critics said the book was like a romance novel because
of how the author conveniently tied the two stories together
and especially as Daniel and Inara fell in love and lived happily
thereafter.
Nevertheless we enjoyed the author's cute story and her description of
the water and the beautiful San Juan islands.
Of course our discussion centered on Immigration and the problems
we are encountering today in that arena and the fact that
there are no good solutions.
Carol Hawkins chose "Bear Town" by Fredrik Backman and a tentative
date was set for April 17th,
