This novel is beautiful. The writing is gorgeous, the story unique and heartbreaking. It tells the story of Lucy and Sam, children of immigrants who are newly orphaned, leaving them alone in the undefined West during the Gold Rush. They and their parents are of Chinese descent, marking them as outsiders amongst the men who have come in search of a fortune despite them wanting the same thing.

Zhang has artfully presented the struggle of both of trying to start a life out in this desolate landscape and doing so faced with discrimination. What is particularly remarkable is the resilience of all the characters––you see both Sam and Lucy’s perspective as well as flashbacks to their parents’ first meetings and early years of marriage––and the things that they will do to keep hold to their dreams. I found it interesting that the characters never explicitly call themselves Chinese (though some white characters occasionally use derogatory slang towards them). However, Zhang has mixed in bits of Pinyin as well as Chinese mythology, especially surrounding the tiger.

This is one of those books where the plot is somewhat secondary to the beauty of the prose. I loved the way that each chapter title is a noun––like gold, mud, plum, water––around which the events of that chapter revolve in some way. Zhang’s writing becomes almost poetry in some passages, as she play with sentence length and repetition of words. Its other strength is the relationship it portrays between Sam and Lucy and how much you will feel for both characters by the end.

I went into this book not knowing much about the participation of Chinese immigrants in the Gold Rush in the American West. I am grateful for this book for opening my eyes to that part of history that has gone largely untold. I hope that this book will inspire others to look into that history.

TW: implied assault; racism including use of offensive terms; violence

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.