First novelist Kay Honeyman creates a strong heroine, Jade Moon, for this coming-of-age tale set in Jinjiu village in 1923 Guangzhou, China.
Jade Moon's mother died giving birth to her nearly 17 years ago, and life is not easy for a girl in an all-male household in China. But Jade Moon often speaks without thinking, and takes on every battle. In Chinese astrology, girls born in the year of the Fire Horse are "especially dangerous" and bring tragedy to their families. Everyone in Jinjiu blames Jade Moon for any misfortune that befalls them. A stranger comes to town with a connection to her father's brother, whom Jade Moon never knew existed. The stranger's name is Sterling Promise, and he comes bearing a ticket that will get Jade Moon, her father and Sterling Promise himself passage to America.
Honeyman fills the narrative with period details sure to fascinate readers: the creation of "paper sons," fictitious family members invented by Chinese immigrants after the San Francisco earthquake to gain passage for others wishing to come to the U.S.; the fireworks trade in Hong Kong, made possible through child labor; and the second-class status of girls and women. Jade Moon's only hope in China is to marry a man who can provide for her. In America, she hopes she'll get a chance to be whom she's meant to be. But as fellow passenger Mrs. Ying tells Jade Moon, "It is not easy to be a woman anywhere." An engrossing historical novel with a captivating heroine. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness