The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, Kelli Estes

The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, Kelli Estes, Sourcebooks Landmark Publishing

I LOVED this book. This is yet another fictional storytelling of Chinese American history. This book is based in the Seattle area and Orcas Island, going between present day and the late 1880's-1900's during the Chinese Exclusion Act. 

A young Chinese woman escapes genocide by being pushed into the water near Orcas Island and is rescued by a kind man. This is her story, and she embroiders her history and the story of her family on a silk robe, part of which is discovered years later. This story profoundly affects the family that discovered it, as well as the professor who researches its history. I am not going to say much more because you just need to read it.

Absolutely worth reading. Even though it's fiction, it gives one an idea of how the Chinese were treated. It makes me think about the Lilly White mine, near where I live in Baker City, Oregon. The mine was worked by Chinese slaves, and instead of paying them, when the mine was mined out, they sealed the workers inside and blew it up with dynamite, literally killing hundreds of Chinese.  It's sad and atrocious what mankind has done in our country's history. Reading things like this helps us remember and strive not to let things like that ever happen again.

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