The Girls of Good Fortune

McMorris (The Ways We Hide) deftly weaves a tale about identity, love, and resilience. In 1888, Celia Hart, a young Chinese American woman, awakens in the cargo hold of a ship, with no memory of how she ended up there. Slowly, she begins to recall working as a maid for Portland’s mayor, giving birth to her daughter in a brothel, and attempting to right the wrongs of a young man’s involvement in a violent attack on Chinese miners. She also realizes she must escape the ship and rescue her daughter. Celia is a strong, independent woman living in a time when women were expected to be invisible. Readers will find her authentic and feel compassion for her plight. The secondary characters, mostly of European descent, highlight the social tensions of the time. In particular, Celia’s close friend Lettie, an Irish American woman, makes some poor decisions that complicate matters. Drawing from her own heritage, McMorris, the daughter of an Asian immigrant, vividly portrays the harsh realities faced by Chinese immigrants in the late 1800s, set against a backdrop of widespread anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States.

[CORRECTION NOTICE: We found an editorial error in the original review; this online version has been corrected.]