The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

I've read a few books now set in San Francisco centering on the “Paper Daughters” from China. Having been coerced from China, either through words or actions, these girls must basically assume new identities and memorize entire booklets of demographic information (the “papers” used for their nickname) in order to pass the Ellis Island tests, only to find things aren't what they appear in America. It's a sad story, told over and over again in different books.

Donaldina “Dolly” Cameron from this book works in a mission home for girls dedicated to rescuing these Paper Daughters. Word is sent to her about another daughter requesting to be rescued from the Tong, and through interpreters and police intervention, Dolly goes to the girl's location and liberates her from her terrible situation. The book follows Dolly as she starts out at the mission home, learns the ropes, becomes headmistress, and has to overcome many challenges and setbacks for her and her girls.

This is a powerful story that I don't think the author did justice. The writing is flat, very much “tell” rather than “show”, and doesn't really linger on bad situations all that long. It feels meant for a younger, Young Adult audience, which sort of bored me a bit as I read it. I also feel like the romance bits involving Dolly were shoehorned in and had very little impact on the story as a whole other than to drag the narrative down for several chapters while wheels spun.

Still, the book is well researched I think (you can even find various newspaper articles from the early 1900s through the Library of Congress here ), and it's a nice introduction to a sad story in San Francisco.