by Lisa See
First published 2026
In 1870, three Chinese women step off ships into the dusty pueblo of Los Angeles, each carrying different dreams and wounds. Dove, daughter of an imperial scholar, arrives with bound feet and an arranged marriage to an older merchant. Petal, sold by her desperate father for rice seed money, faces a second sale on American soil. Moon, wife to a traditional medicine doctor, speaks perfect English and possesses striking beauty, but her childhood footbinding failed, leaving her with a permanent limp that diminishes her worth in others' eyes. The women seek love, freedom, and justice in a city that offers them none. Anti-Chinese hatred runs deep in Los Angeles, and when violence erupts during the Night of Horrors, all three face trials beyond imagination. Hardship and heartbreak bind them together as they discover their own voices, learn to endure suffering, and forge connections through friendship and mutual support in an unforgiving new world.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, hardship-and-heartbreak
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 1870
384 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: abuse, violence