Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee

It is a Saturday in October 1932, and Gemma Chow and her older sister May are on their way out of City Market in Los Angeles to try to sell their flowers elsewhere. Only a third of their inventory has sold this morning. May (Mei Wun), Gemma ( Gam Wun), and Peony (Pan Wun) are the three Chow sisters. This morning nineteen-year-old May and Gemma are leaving Ba's flower stand to try their luck at wealthy Westlake Park. They have left school and taken over Ba's flower business as he is in a sanatorium sixty miles away in the San Bernardino desert to recuperate from tuberculosis.  Ba, who was not yet forty years old, had been coughing up blood. 

The two sisters drive to Westlake in Ba's Ford Runabout pickup and set up a stand. Gemma decides they will quadruple their prices. It's the Depression and few are buying flowers. Although they get harassed by the police about not having their permit, Gemma and May make fourteen dollars.

When they return home, Ma tells May that the Moy's who live in Pasadena on their own ranch and own a canning company by the Los Angeles River, are interested in May marrying their son, Wallace. He's now graduated from U.C.L.A. in some science program. May agrees to meet him.

The next day Gemma and May drive to their flower supplier, Angel Barajas. As they help him load up their truck, Angel tells them he will be switching to grow vegetables in the spring. At least they can eat the ones they don't sell. Meanwhile Gemma has the idea to sell chrysanthemum tea, but May isn't supportive of this idea.

Back in Chinatown, the two sisters are preparing the flowers for sale in the abandoned horse lot, when Gemma notices there are flies buzzing near the door to the stables.  Gemma is determined to investigate, but May is hesitant. To their shock, they discover the body of Lulu Wong, a famous movie star from Chinatown. May was two years behind Lulu in school but they became best friends at age twelve while in a school play. Two year later, Lulu auditioned for a part and soon became famous. Her ma and younger sister live with her in a nice home in Beverly Hills.

The murder couldn't have come at a worse time. Los Angeles wants to demolish Chinatown because it is seen as an area of the city that is dirty and sinister. The city has an order requiring the three major railroads build a union train station on land in Chinatown. However, the railroad magnates are against it and are supporting the Chinese. 

May and Gemma make their way to One Dragon Grocery to use Mr. Yam's telephone to contact the police. Detective Mallady arrives with a young officer, Officer Kidd. He decides that Lulu died in the last six to twelve hours and notes the cut on the side of her head. When Gemma wonders if she was poisoned like Dixie Doors, a beauty pageant winner from Glendale, Mallady is doubtful. His suggestion that Lulu was meeting a lover annoys Gemma who knows that "Lulu had been a dutiful and virtuous daughter.." when she had known her. Gemma notices what appears to be blood on the right sleeve of the cream pantsuit Lulu is wearing. Mallady is not convinced this is a murder, suggesting that Lulu may have wandered in drunk and hit her head. To this Gemma informs Mallady that Lulu was a Buddhist who didn't drink. Gemma tells Mallady that she hopes he won't rest until he finds the killer.

Gemma takes "the Mule" into Westlake to sell their flowers as planned. When the jalopy breaks down, she encounters Dr. Frederick Winter who helps her get her vehicle repaired and recover from her dizzy spell. They discuss Lulu's death and he tells her that the medical examiner should "do a thorough examination, including toxicology reports."  Fearing that Lulu's murder will not be solved but used as the final blow to demolish Chinatown, Gemma and May set out to uncover the truth and in the process reveal many secrets.

Discussion

In her newest novel, Kill Her Twice, Stacey Lee has crafted an engaging historical murder mystery set in Chinatown, Los Angeles in 1932. The story centers around the murder of a young Chinese American actress, Lulu Wong who has quickly risen to fame in Hollywood by playing a villain. Fearful that her murder will be ignored because she is Chinese, Lulu's old friends, May and Gemma Chow are determined to solve it.

The story is told by May and her younger sister Gemma who have taken over their ailing father's flower business. Lulu's murder is set in 1932, prior to the destruction of Old Chinatown which began in 1933. Old Chinatown and City Market were the two main areas where Chinese Americans lived. The roads were unpaved, with few street lamps and overcrowded housing in Old Chinatown. Many of the children in Old Chinatown played in the playground near the old horse stables featured in Lee's story. Chinese Americans faced serious racial discrimination and even violence. In Kill Her Twice, Lee refers several times to the Massacre of 1871 in which eighteen Chinese were lynched by a mob after a policeman and civilian were shot during a gang gunfight. It was one of the worst lynchings in American history.

In the 1930's, Chinese could not become American citizens, and they couldn't own land. They also were restricted in where they could live, if not by deeds, by discrimination. Despite this, the Chinese community flourished, running successful businesses, forming associations that helped families, and expanding. At its height, there were restaurants, temples, a Chinese opera, and even a telephone exchange. But as Chinatown expanded it was soon adjacent to where several rail lines met. The city of Los Angeles soon wanted the land Chinatown occupied for a train station that would service three train lines. Eventually most of Chinatown was razed, with the exception of the Garnier Building (also mentioned in the  novel). As the Old Chinatown was destroyed, a New Chinatown was eventually created on vacant land owned by the Santa Fe Railway. 

In Lee's novel, she imagines the conflict between the Chinese who want to save their homes and community, and the businessmen and civic leaders of Los Angeles who want their land for Union Station. It is this conflict that forms the backdrop for Lulu Wong's murder. In Kill Her Twice, Lee has Otis Fox of Fox Cosmetics and head of the Take Back L.A. Committee as the leading advocate for the building of Union Station.  He considers Chinatown a den of thieves and wants it demolished. 

Gemma and May Wong want to solve Lulu's murder, not only because Lulu was a friend but because they also believe her murder will confirm Otis Fox's view of the Chinese community and fuel the determination to demolish Chinatown. It will also further feed racial discrimination against the Chinese in Los Angeles. They worry that all of these factors may leave the police unwilling to solve her murder.

May worries that Lulu's death will simply be written off because she's Chinese. She is reluctant to return to the horse lot where Lulu's body lies because . "I didn't want to see Lulu like that again, dehumanized. A victim. It was bad enough that someone had killed her...A second death would come in the form of scandal, her twisted body held up for viewing like some circus sideshow, her fame recast as a cautionary tale. They would kill her twice."  Gemma believes that if Lulu's murder isn't quickly solved, people will believe that Chinatown murdered her. She is determined to solve Lulu's murder because "...looking out for Lulu Wong means looking out for Chinatown." 

The two sisters work diligently and relentlessly over the week following Lulu's murder to uncover the truth. They boldly attend the Pannychis as flower vendors with the intent on determining whether Otis Fox is attempting to bribe Officer Mallady. Gemma sneaks into the Hall of Justice and manages to take the carbon paper from the autopsy report which ends up providing a significant and surprising clue about Lulu. (Will young readers know what a carbon paper is?) May and Gemma also decide to take the risky chance to audition as Chinese extras only to have May offered a job as an actress to fill in Lulu's part.

Gemma and May are recruited by Clifford Joust, head of the grand jury investigating corruption in Los Angeles, to attend a soiree at Otis Fox's home to determine if he has a stolen painting. May's new status as an actress, make attending the soiree a possibility and offers the sisters a chance to investigate the Foxs more closely. If he has the painting, it is proof that he is involved in the corruption. The soiree not only confirms Fox's involvement in shady dealings but leads May directly to Lulu's killer.

Kill Her Twice has many twists and turns. Readers will find themselves suspecting different characters as the Chow sisters consider who might have wanted Lulu dead. Lee has crafted two determined, intelligent but distinct heroines in Gemma and May Chow. While May seems to be the more dutiful daughter, it turns out she has her own ideas about her life. Determined not to be forced into a marriage, she suggests to Wallace Moy that they pretend date. She also accepts the offer of Lulu's part, mainly to help support their family as they face the inevitable move from Old Chinatown. Gemma takes the lead in the investigation, showing resourcefulness and courage.. The incident involving Gemma hiding in the coroner's office to obtain the carbon paper of the coroner's report was well done and the novel could have been much improved with more situations like this. 

Although we never really meet Lulu in the novel, except in flashbacks, Lee writes in her Author's Note that the character was loosely inspired by Anna May Wong (1905-1961), considered the first Chinese American Hollywood movie star. Her career was comprised of mostly "stereotypical and frequently villainous roles". Lee also chose to feature "the razing of Los Angele's Old Chinatown in the 1930's because it was the perfect example of the power of publicity to erase a community. Voteless and unable to own land, the Chinese were at the whim of booster literature from newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and tourism brochures, which depicted them favorably or unfavorably, depending on the city's developmental agenda." The Chinese had no say in what would happen to their community when the railroad heads and the city officials battled it out for Union Station.

Fans who enjoy historical murder mysteries will find Kill Her Twice an interesting read that succeeds in portraying this small slice of Chinese American history. 

Book Details:

Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons     2024

390 pp.

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee

It's April 10, 1912 and Valora Luck is waiting at the first class gangway to board the White Star's newest ocean line, Titanic. Valora's former employer, Mrs. Sloane had secretly purchased the tickets for them without telling her grasping son and his wife. However, she died suddenly over a week ago and Valora's here now, taking her place.

Dressed in one of Mrs. Sloane's traveling suits, Valora is determined to board Titanic to find and reunite with her twin brother Jamie Luck. He is one of seven Chinese men from the Atlantic Steam Company being transported to Cuba to take on a new job.

Despite her ticket, Valora is refused entry because she is half Chinese. The Chinese Exclusion Act bars Chinese from entering America. Valora lies and tells the officer her lady is expecting her, but to no avail.

Undaunted, Valora manages to board Titanic by hiding underneath a Renault being hoisted into the ship's hold. When Valora is seen climbing out of the hold by a crewman, she is reported to Officer Merry. Luckily she is saved by a Miss Hart who distracts the officer, allowing Valora to concentrate on finding Jamie.

Valora knows from the late Mrs. Sloane's list of passengers, that Mr. Albert Ankeny Stewart, part owner of the Ringling Brothers Circus is on board. Her plan is to find Jamie, convince him to do the routine they choregraphed with Ba months ago for Mr. Stewart and get hired.

Valora is able to find Jamie's cabin, but the Chinese sailors don't trust her and offer no help. However, as she wanders through the ship, Valora stumbles upon Jamie who she finds helping Miss Charlotte Fine with her poodle. Jamie is with two young Chinese boys, Olly and Wink and a young Chinese man, Chow Bo Wah who works as a fireman on Titanic. Valora tells Jamie about her plan for them to go to New York and become circus performers by impressing Mr. Stewart. But Jamie isn't interested and he reminds Valora that he doesn't want to go to America and that it's illegal for them to do so.

Jamie's attitude makes Valora angry but determined. Tired, she makes her way to B-Deck and when confusion arises over the room that Mrs. Sloane would have occupied, Valora is offered a beautiful stateroom after identifying herself as Mrs. Amberly Sloane. With Mrs. Sloane's dress and her face covered by a veil of bees lace, Valora has created the perfect disguise.

As the ship leaves Cherbourg, Valora finds herself settling into her new role when April Hart knocks on her door. April knows who she is and makes Valora the offer of having her wear her own creations from House of July, her haute couture fashion label. At first she refuses but April reveals that she knows exactly who Valora is and suggests they can help each other. She tells Valora she could be the "Merry Widow" and "the mysterious woman in mourning" and that she can help her hide in first class. Valora agrees to model April's outfits in exchange for her finding out about Mr.Stewart. Now all she needs to do is convince Jamie to perform their act for Mr. Stewart so they can start their new life in America. 

Discussion

With Luck of the Titanic, New York Times best-selling author Stacey Lee has crafted another riveting novel for teen readers. She has taken the well known and much written about historical event of the sinking in 1912 of the White Star ocean liner, Titanic and focused in on the little known fact that there were eight Chinese passengers on board the ship. Six of the Chinese survived and sadly these men were shamed for surviving. 

With this detail as her foundation, Lee has created a believable and moving story. The challenge, when using a historical event like the Titanic in which the outcome is well known, is to write a good, plausible story with believable fictional characters whose fate is not known to the reader. Lee accomplishes this remarkably well. Also, as she notes in her Author's Further Note at the back, "The challenge of writing historical fiction lies in creating a fictional story within the confines of the historical record without doing to much damage in the process." Lee has remained faithful to the events of the Titanic disaster while also educating her readers on the discrimination so prevalent against the Chinese, that there was a specific law barring them from entering America and that their efforts to survive the disaster were considered dishonourable and shameful.

In Luck of the Titanic, the main character, Valora Luck is posing as her recently deceased employer, the wealthy Mrs. Amberly Sloane. Valora initially planned to board Titanic as Mrs. Sloane's maid but when that attempt fails she manages to sneak onto the ship - perhaps the most implausible part of the entire story. Her goal is to find her brother Jamie whom she knows is on the ship working on the boilers. Valora wants to go to America and begin a new life there as a circus performer and part of the act she and her brother developed as Valor and Virtue. Jamie is simply not interested in Valora's idea, although he eventually decides to help her. Their plans are never realized as the ship strikes the iceberg and begins to sink. 

However, before the tragedy, Valora comes to realize that what she thinks is best for her might not be the right thing for Jamie. This realization in the cabin of Mr. Stewart of Ringling Bros. comes at the exact moment the Titanic strikes the iceberg. "Life is a balancing act, and the better you get a juggling, the better you get at living. But juggling is not an act of holding tight. It's an act of letting go -- of giving the people you love the time and space to find their own orbit. And it's an act of catching. I'll always be there for Jamie, just as he'll always be there for me." And so Valora makes a deal that works for both her and Jamie, giving him the freedom to live his life as he chooses, not as she wishes. And as it turns out that is for the best as the tragedy of the sinking unfolds.

One contentious detail in the novel is whether Valora would be able to move so easily about on Titanic between first class and the quarters where the Chinese crew are housed. Lee does add a touch of realism to this as Valora's true identity is eventually revealed.

Lee also makes use of considerable foreshadowing in the novel through Valora's dreams and also with the gift of the carved whale that Bo gives Valora. When questioned as to why a whale, Bo tells her, "A whale rules the sea. It goes where it wants without fear. And if troubled, it can become a bird --he flaps his hands, his long fingers moving gracefully -- "beating wings hard enough to stir up the sea. It means being in control of your destiny."

The novel's gorgeous cover is sure to draw readers in but Titanic is so overdone in novels, that the theme may be off putting for some readers. Those that do take up the challenge however, will find an enjoyable, well-crafted story with a very bittersweet ending. The novel includes a List of Characters in her novel and maps of the layout of the R.M.S. Titanic. 

Book Details:

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons        2021
366 pp.

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan has been working in Mrs. English's milliner's shop as a milliner's assistant for the last two years for a measly fifty cents per day. However, before she can ask for the raise she so desperately needs, Jo is fired by Mrs. English because she's Asian and a "sauce-box" who expresses her opinions about what a client would look best in. Not only that, but Mrs. English has spoken with the sixteen other milliners in Atlanta, effectively blacklisting Jo from being hired.

Nevertheless, when Mrs. Bell arrives to have a special Chinese knot embellishment placed on her hat, Jo is made to make the embellishments. Unbeknownst to the Bells, Jo and Old Gin live beneath the Bell's house in what used to be a cellar to hide runaway slaves. A listening tube, disguised as a vent allows those in the basement to hear what was happening in the upstairs.

While Mrs. Bell and Mrs. English are haggling over the price of Jo's work, Miss Melissa Lee Saltworth and Miss Linette Culpepper, whom Jo has nicknamed Salt and Pepper arrive. The daughters of "merchant aristocrats", Miss Saltworth is being courted by Mr. Quackenbush, the son of a financier who lost his fortune backing Confederate dollars.

That night Jo listens as the Bells discuss the dire circumstances of their newspaper The Focus. It has lost readers after the Bell's son, Nathan published an editorial against segregating Atlanta's streetcars. They need two thousand new subscribers by April or they will be forced to close and move to New York. This means Jo and Old Gin will likely lose their home too. Nathan questions what their newspaper is lacking and his mother states that it is an advice column. Their competitor, The Trumpeter has Advice from Aunt Edna and Mrs. Bell believes that an "agony aunt" column would help greatly.

The next morning, Jo attempts to find work but is unsuccessful. That night she decides that she will be the Bell's "Aunt Edna", writing an advice column for women, anonymously in order to help the Bell's newspaper obtain more subscriptions. Jo writes a letter to Nathan offering her services and sends along her first column which advises women to boldly ask a man to the Payne's eight-furlong race to be held in March in support of the Society for the Betterment of Women. She takes the pseudonym, Miss Sweetie, "...to temper the more provocative nature of the articles..." she will be writing.

While looking for another pair of gloves after losing one when she encountered Nathan Bell and his dog Bear, Jo discovers a man's navy suit, wool coat and shoes. Old Gin returns home and tells Jo that Mrs. Payne will see her about a job as a weekday maid for her daughter Caroline. However Jo is not happy about this because Caroline was always nasty to her when she was younger. She spent her childhood at the Payne's, first as a playmate to Caroline and later on working for them as a maid until she was suddenly let go over two years ago. Jo reluctantly agrees, hoping that finishing school has taken the nasty edge off of Caroline.

At the Payne's home, Jo settles in as Caroline's maid, working during the week, maintaining Caroline's quarters, her wardrobe and accompanying her when she goes out. Caroline however has no intention of having Jo follow her everywhere. On their first outing on horseback, Caroline tricks Jo, sending her to look for a dropped handkerchief, which allows Caroline to secretly meet her lover, Mr. Quackenbach. Mr. Q, as Jo calls him, just happens to be Melissa Saltworth's beau. Afterwards, Caroline threatens to have Jo fired if she reveals her secret but Jo counters with the threat to reveal her dalliance to Miss Saltworth. Her request is to be treated better by Caroline.

Upon returning to the Payne estate, Jo is disturbed to find Old Gin with Billy Riggs, a man with a nasty reputation as a "fixer". Old Gin tells her that one of the Chinese owed Billy's father money and warns her to stay away from him. Old Gin begins spending most of his days and nights at the Paynes helping Jed Crycks train the new Arabian stallion Merritt brought back to the estate.

At home, Jo discovers a partially made red silk garment which leads her to believe that Old Gin is working on finding her a husband. Meanwhile her Miss Sweetie column has become very popular, leading Mrs. Payne to buy extra copies of The Focus for her women's group, the Atlanta Belles. Jo decides to hand deliver her next column to the Bells. When she puts on the wool coat to run her errand,  she discovers a note addressed to "Shang" and signed with the letter "e" in the pocket.  Jo questions Old Gin about the letter and learns that Shang owed Billy's father a great deal of money. However he refuses to tell her much more than that. This mystery and the inconsistencies in Old Gin's story leads Jo to wonder if Shang might be her father. As Jo works to unravel the mystery of her past, Miss Sweetie's fame grows and the hunt is on to discover who is behind the provocative column that is having unexpected social repercussions across Atlanta! Eventually Jo uncovers the identity of her parents, Old Gin's connection to the debt to Billy and devises a plan to wipe out the debt.

Discussion

The Downstairs Girl is a novel with a strange plot. Set in 1890 Atlanta, Georgia, The Downstairs Girl incorporates the themes of racial tension, women's rights, class and identity. The novel, while historical fiction, is also part mystery and a coming of age story. Despite these many themes, the cleverness and  wit of main character Jo Kuan, a seventeen-year-old who is half Chinese, half Caucasian makes this novel an enjoyable and intriguing read.

In 1890 Atlanta, racial discrimination is common towards Black citizens. The Reconstruction Era in the southern United States is over and the southern states are back to governing themselves. Although Black men were given the right to vote by the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1870, many obstacles were enacted to limit this right in many states. At this time women were also unable to vote, but were beginning to agitate for greater involvement in society and for more rights. Women were beginning to see themselves as having a greater role in society and in the political process. Somehow Lee manages to incorporate bits of all these themes into her story, through her varied cast of characters.

For those who are not white, the opportunities in 1890 Atlanta are limited. Jo, who is of Chinese heritage, a talented milliner-in-training is fired and blacklisted simply because she is Chinese and outspoken. She doesn't know her place. There is also Old Gin, Jo's grandfather, who has worked at the Payne estate as a groom for years. There is Robby Withers, a Black man who is a delivery man at Buxbaum's. But as Jo notes, "We all must abide by the rules, but some of us must follow more than others. Robby can be a deliveryman but not a clerk. Mrs. English would never have promoted me to milliner, just as Mr. Payne will never promote Old Gin to head groom. Like Sweet Potato and her twisted lot, we have been born with a defect -- the defect of not being white. Only, unlike in Sweet Potato's case, there is no correcting it. There is only correcting the vision of those who view it as a defect, though not even a war and Reconstruction have been able to do that."

The character of Caroline Payne represents the privileged white class and the Southern gentry, but she is also used to portray the social restrictions placed on women. Caroline is a mean, thoughtless girl who is wealthy, lives in comfort and can go wherever she wants. However, her freedom is an illusion because her path is life is mostly determined by social convention. She is expected to marry a wealthy man. Despite the opening of the debutante season, Jo notes that Caroline doesn't want to marry and she begins to understand that Caroline's situation is just as constraining if not more so than her own.   "Caroline's scowling visage appears in my mind. With her wealth, every door is open for her. But maybe what she wants is not for doors to open, but for the walls to come down. When one grows up with walls, it is difficult to dream of a world beyond. Who knows what Caroline - what any of us -- could accomplish without the constant pressure to get married?" It is these observations that lead Jo to encourage Caroline's father to involve her more in the family printing business which she appears to have an aptitude for.

One of the many plotlines in the novel involves Jo's search into her past. All she knows at the beginning of the novel is that she was abandoned by her father and that she was left in the care of Old Gin. However, there are soon hints that not all is as it seems. "Wondering about my parents is a strange kind of agony, an itch that I can't help scratching until it causes pain." The revelation of the identity of her parents is devastating to Jo but she decides to show her mother that she won't be bound by the chains of shame but will live life on her own terms. Jo is determined, resourceful and forthright, with dreams of becoming more than what society tells her she can be. She represents the struggle for both women's and civil rights.

The Downstairs Girl is recommended for older readers because of some sexual innuendo as well as a scene involving male nudity in a house of prostitution. Those familiar with Lee's writing will find The Downstairs Girl similar in tone to her other novels with their unique settings and variety of characters.

Book Details:

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons Ltd.     2019
374 pp.

Under A Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

Under A Painted Sky is a story about friendship, identity and the meaning of family. Set in 1849, it was Chinese-American author Stacey Lee's debut novel in 2016.

The day started out like any other for fifteen year old Samantha Young, the daughter of a Chinese dry
goods merchant. Her father had leased their store, the Whistle only six months earlier after moving them from New York City to St. Joe, Missouri,  the jumping-off point for wagons heading west to California. They left New York to start a new life in California after his Portuguese business partner gambled away their business. To that end Samantha's father had given his friend, Mr. Theodore Trask her mother's precious jade bracelet. Then Trask unexpectedly came to the Whistle last month, leading a wagon train of seven. Before Trask left, Samantha's father gave him the bracelet. She had no idea what Trask was going to do for her father in California.

The Whistle's wood building is crammed with bolts of fabric, so Samantha and her father live at the back of the store. While her father works in the store, Samantha spends her days giving violin lessons. At five o'clock, as she hurries home after a day of lessons, Samantha smells smoke. To her horror she discovers the Whistle a charred heap, the fire still burning strong enough that people are carrying buckets of water. Her father is dead, leaving Samantha to face the world alone.

Their landlord, Ty Yorkshire seems sympathetic to Samantha's plight and offers her a room at one of his places,  La Belle Hotel. When she arrives at the hotel, Miss Betsy orders her Negro servant, Annamae to take Samantha up to Room 2A and clean her up. Annamae gives Samantha a bath but shortly afterwards Ty Yorkshire enters the room. He proposes that in order for Samantha to pay off the "debt" she now owes due to the fire at the Whistle, she work as one of his prostitutes. Samantha refuses and while resisting Yorkshire's attempt to rape her, causes him to slip and hit his head on the edge of the bathtub. Believing she has killed him, Samantha with the help of Annamae, moves Yorkshire's body to the bed and decides to flee St. Joe. Samantha tells Annamae she's going to California to find Mr. Trask who was helping her father. Annamae informs Samantha that she also was planning to escape this very night as Yorkshire was going to turn her into a prostitute. Since she's missed her "Moses" wagon to freedom, Annamae decides to flee with Samantha.

Samantha suggests they dress as two young men out to make their fortune in the gold rush. The girls dress in men's clothing stolen from the brothel's laundry and they put Yorkshire's Colt Dragoon pistol, his powder horn, two gold rings and a few dollars into a saddlebag. They then sneak out of the hotel and down the street with the intent of crossing the Missouri River that night.

Samantha knows they have to be on the last wagon to cross the Missouri otherwise they will never get out of St. Joe. Samantha creates a diversion so that she and Annamae are able to slip quickly into the first wagon, hiding among bags of feed. The driver of their wagon is Mr. Calloway who is trying to catch up with his family. They decide to stay in the wagon which travels through the night. The next morning Calloway is stopped by Deputy Granger who tells him that "A Chinese girl bashed a man's head in last night" and that she is the daughter of the careless Chinaman whose shop burned down. Although Calloway hasn't seen the two girls, he does allow Granger to search his wagon. Samantha and Annamae slip unseen out of the wagon and into the protection of a nearby weeping willow.

Alone on the prairie the two girls open up to one another. Annamae (Andy) tells Samantha (Sam) that she has lived in St. Joe for four years after being in St. Louis. She has two brothers, Tommy who died when he was seven and and older brother Isaac whom she recently learned would meet up with her at Harp Falls. Her family was split when she and Tommy were sold to Yorkshire while Isaac was sold off somewhere unknown. Annamae's goal is to travel to Harp Falls to meet up with Isaac while Samantha intends to catch up to Trask on the trail. Annamae suggests she cut Samantha's hair so she looks more like a boy. Their plan is to follow the Oregon Trail to California.

When they stop to eat, three young men, two white and one Mexican arrive on horseback with a fourth horse. The green-eyed boy is Cayenne Pepper, Cay for short, his cousin West Pepper and their Mexican wrangler, Pedro Hernando Gonzalez or Peety. Samantha introduces herself as Sam and Annamae as Andy. Sam and Andy tell the boys they are heading west to where there's gold, while Cay reveals that they have just moved one thousand head of cattle to St. Louis and are heading to a job in California.

Sam and Andy strike a bargain with the three cowboys to take them to the Little Blue River, riding the extra horse.  The cowboys seem friendly and Sam wonders if they should have bargained to take them farther than the Little Blue. The next morning the group of five set out, Sam riding with West on his sorrel named Francesca or Franny, Peety on his Andalusian named Lupe, Cay on his spunky pinto called Skinny while Andy is forced to ride Princesa, a temperamental bay who screams whenever she approaches. 

Sam learns from West that there are numerous trails to California. He tells her the distance before the Oregon Trail divides is 950 miles. For Sam this means she has to find Mr. Trask before the trail forks or risk losing him and learning what her father was planning for them, forever. When they reach the Little Blue, Sam suggests a fishing contest and that if she and Andy win, the three cowboys will take them to the next trading post, Fort Kearny where they can get their own horses. When the girls win the contest, it means three more weeks of hiding both their true identity and the fact that they are wanted criminals from the cowboys, while trying to learn the location of Harp Falls and catch up to Mr. Trask. What they don't bargain on is becoming friends and finding a new family.

Discussion

Under A Painted Sky is a compelling novel about friendship, family and identity. It is a tale of survival set in 1849, on the Oregon Trail. Although a historical novel, Under A Painted Sky focuses more on characterization and the relationships that develop between the main characters in the novel, in particular between Samantha and Annamae as well as between Samantha and West Pepper rather than on presenting readers with detailed information about the Oregon Trail and the movement west.

For example, most of the story takes place on the Oregon Trail but Lee's portrayal of travel on the trail in 1849 is somewhat sparse in detail. Andy and Sam set out with minimal provisions, yet never seem to lack for food, water or medicine. They conveniently kill a snake their first night when they also conveniently meet up with three young cowboys who are well provisioned. They also have no trouble catching fish or finding suitable drinking water. As they journey along the Oregon Trail no one seems unduly worried about getting caught on the prairie or in the mountains after the onset of winter - a major concern of wagon trains. There is some passing portrayal of the hardships of the journey, but it isn't until the group falls ill from cholera that the reader is presented with the reality of life on the trail in the mid-1800's.

Nevertheless,  the focus is on the relationships between the characters  and that is what makes this novel so powerful. There are five main characters in the novel: Annamae (Andy), Samantha (Sam) Young, West Pepper and his cousin Cay and their friend Pedro. Annamae and Samantha form an unlikely bond when circumstances throw them together.  They are thrown together by fate according to Samantha although Annamae, a religious girl, believes God has a hand in everything, even putting the willow tree near where Calloway stops his wagon.
"God planted this tree right here for us."
"Maybe it's better to think of it as fate...I mean, sometimes I wonder why God  would grant a favor if trouble's just waiting around the corner? It feel disingenuous. If it's fate, then it's written in the stars, and we can't do much to avoid it...I don't mean any offense. I just mean, if God is benevolent ---"
"God is benevolent, and it ain't Christian to believe in fate, because He's in charge of the stars, too."

However Samantha believes in the Chinese principle of yuanfen, that some peoples lives are tied together. She tells Annamae this when she's worried she may not find her brother Isaac. "There's a Chinese principle called yuanfen, which means your fate with someone else...Two people with strong yuanfen have a greater chance of meeting in their lifetimes, and can become close as family."

Lee develops her characters in light of the Chinese zodiac which we learn about through Samantha. Before the girls meet the cowboys, we learn first about Samantha. Samantha was born in 1833, the Year of the Snake. A child born in the Year of the Snake is considered lucky but since Sam's mother died in childbirth she is considered unlucky. She has been told to resist her "Snake weaknesses such as crying easily and needing to have the last word." Samantha, upon learning that Annamae was born in 1832, states that she was born in the "Year of the Dragon, the most powerful of the twelve animals on the Chinese calendar...Dragons are sharp-tongued, stubborn and overconfident...They're also creative and independent. And when they put their minds to something, they always succeed..."

When the three cowboys arrive on the scene, Samantha quickly begins to size up their characters and assigns them Chinese zodiac animals too, although she's not completely correct. Based on his age, Samantha believes Cay Pepper was born in the Year of the Rabbit, "meaning he has a tendency to overbreed." and that West is the same. But later she believes Cay was born in the Year of the Tiger. "He's fearless, but a show-off, which leads to recklessness. Yet he could charm the spots off a leopard, so people will follow him regardless. It doesn't hurt that the beauty of Tigers makes them difficult not to watch." She's not far off the mark as Cay is presented as a ladies man, and in fact is running from a girl in Texas who tried to trick him into marriage.

Samantha tells Annamae that Peety, whom Annamae likes, was born in the Year of the Rat. She says, "He likes to talk, but doesn't share much about himself. He's a perfectionist, a tireless worker, and -- this cinches it -- he loves elegance." She tells Andy that "Rats are most well-suited with Dragons." It's that principle of yuanfen once again.

A main source of tension in the novel is Samantha and Annamae hiding their true identity and that they are girls from the cowboys. For most of the novel it seems they succeed but the reader isn't quite certain. The reader learns near the end of the story, that the cowboys were not really fooled and that they knew all along these were two girls who needed their help. But until that point, this secret is the source of tension in the novel, especially as Samantha begins to form a strong attraction towards West. More and more Samantha finds herself falling for West and struggling to maintain her "boy" image. "I regard his profile, his lips parted slightly, and his perfect eyebrows beginning to knit. It both scares and thrills me to admire his beauty from so close, like I am breaking some law against staring." But the mixed messages she receives from West make her wonder. Even when Samantha saves West's life by force feeding him by mouth she is uncertain as to what he feels and what he knows. When he begins to recover he glares at her. Is he repulsed by her because or how she appears on the outside - Chinese or a boy?  "Maybe he knew all along and never said anything because kissing a Chinese girl would be as indecent as kissing a boy." She is saddened that he seems to be judging her by her "wrapper" that is the fact that she's Chinese. In the end she learns that West is actually struggling to come to terms with how he feels about her.

As Samantha and Annamae develop the skills needed to survive on the trail - they learn to ride a horse and shoot a gun and bow and arrow, they also begin to earn the respect of the cowboys. The bond between the five strengthen as they help each other through the numerous difficulties they encounter, West's accident, the cholera and their pursuit by the Scottish boys. By the end of the novel, the five characters discover they have formed a friendship and what amounts to a bond as strong as family. Samantha even chooses to delay her attempt to catch up with Trask in favour of helping Annamae find Harp Falls and meet up with her brother. Samantha realizes that "Maybe what matters is not so much the path as who walks beside you."

Under A Painted Sky is filled with sky imagery that reflects the realities of life, sometimes beautiful, always changing. The title is a reference to something West tells Samantha one evening as they traipse "through a wooded area tinted violet." "This is the best time to hunt, when the animals are out looking for their suppers. 'Course, with a painted sky, light's not good." I never heard anyone all the sky painted before, but it's the perfect word. Clouds outlined in gold streak across the firmament, casting uneven shadows over the landscape." This is a reference to West uncertainty about Samantha. He's not really sure what he's seeing. At the end of the novel when Annamae and Samantha are floating in the river looking up at the clouds and the different shapes they make Samantha tells her that the clouds are like life - ever changing. "The clouds, they never hold still. Sometimes you think you're seeing one thing, and a second later, the whole picture changes."

Lee brings her novel to a thrilling, action-packed climax and a satisfying conclusion. Not all the ends are tied up as Samantha never learns what her father had planned for them in California. But the crisis that nearly costs Samantha her life, forces the truth out into the open: the girls are revealed for who they are, they learn that the cowboys quickly figured out their situation and West and Peety openly admit their affection for Samantha and Annamae. Lee has crafted a wonderfully written piece of historical fiction, filled with adventure, a touch of humour and populated by diverse characters who develop meaningful relationships.

Book Details:

Under A Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons     2015
370 pp.

Outrun The Moon by Stacey Lee

Outrun the Moon is a fictional account of the 1906 earthquake that destroyed the city of San Francisco. At 5:12 am on April 18, a huge earthquake with its epicenter near San Francisco hit the city. The northern 477 kilometers of the San Andreas fault was ruptured. The city experienced strong shaking for 45 to 60 seconds. However, the worst was to come. The earthquake ignited fires which burned through the city for three days. Hundreds of people were burned alive in the rubble of the buildings.

Outrun The Moon begins several days before the earthquake. Fifteen year old Mercy Wong (Mei-Si) lives at thirty-three Clay Street in Chinatown, San Francisco with her ba (father), Wong Wai Kwok, her mother Lei Ha who is the undisputed best fortune-teller in Chinatown and her eight year old brother Jack. Her ba is Catholic but her mother practices a mixture of Buddhism and Taoism. Mercy's brother has poor lungs and has delayed speech because of the bubonic plague inoculations forced on the Chinese who were blamed for the recent bubonic plague outbreaks in the city.

Mercy's best friend is Tom, a member of the Chinese community whose father expects him to be a herbalist. However Tom is interested in flying and has built a hot-air balloon he calls Tom's Floating Island. He wanted to be part of the Army Balloon Corps but when that disbanded, Tom became interested in the new machine developed by the Wright brothers. After a short unexpected balloon ride, Tom gives Mercy a special herb, chuen pooi (also called Fritillaria bulb) used in Chinese medicine for colds and coughs. Mercy is thrilled because this is going to be her family's "ticket to a good life."

Mercy plans to use the herb to bargain her way into a girl's school using her "bossy cheeks" and her business savvy gleaned from Mrs. Lowry's book, The Book For Business-Minded Women. She was given this book by the mortician she used to work for. Taking Jack with her they visit Chocolatier Du Lac where Mercy tells Madame Du Lac that she wishes to speak with her husband who is president of the board that runs St. Clare's School for Girls. She wishes to be admitted to the school and she hopes to bribe Madame Du Lac with a rare herb, chuen pooi which "is also known to fade freckles and lighten the complexion." Tom's father refused to sell the herb to Madame Du Lac. Madame Du Lac agrees to obtain Mercy a meeting with her husband after she is given the bulb, but Mercy tells her she will tell her how to prepare it only after she meets with Monsieur Du Lac.

Mercy arrives at St. Clare's on Monday determined to bargain her way into the school. Her ba runs a laundry business and the work is hard. She does not want her brother Jack with his weak lungs to inherit such a life.  Having graduated from the Oriental Public School, higher education is closed to Mercy because she is Chinese. Mercy hopes to gain admission to St. Clare's so that when she graduates, she will be able to start her own business, supplying Chinese herbal teas to Americans. Her dream is to purchase a house in the wealthy Nob Hill area of San Francisco where Jack and her family can live.

At St. Clare's, Mercy sees Elodie, Monsieur Du Lac's daughter whom she recognizes from the Du Lac's chocolate shop.  Monsieur Du Lac informs Mercy that it is not possible for her to be admitted to the school, but Mercy persistently argues that publicly funded schools are required by law to admit Chinese students. Mercy offers to help Monsieur Du Lac sell his chocolates in Chinatown and to arrange for him to go before the Benevolent Association which manages all affairs in Chinatown. In return, she wants him to allow her to attend St. Clare's on a full scholarship for three years. Monsieur Du Lac refuses and instead offers her to attend for three months in exchange for not only getting the hearing but securing him the right to sell his chocolates in Chinatown. If she does not, her attendance at St. Clare's will be revoked.  He tells her she will pretend she is a Chinese heiress.

That night Monsieur Du Lac's car arrives to pick up Mercy and take her to St. Clare's. From the neck down she looks like a St. Clare's girl with her navy dress, black stockings and boots and her felt hat, all courtesy of Monsieur Du Lac. Her ma warns her that it will take time to fit in, Jack gives Mercy his Indian head penny, but Ba is not there as he is working in the laundry. On her way to St. Clare's, William, the Du Lac's chauffeur stops to pick up Elodie Du Lac who informs Mercy that her father has told her she is to pretend that Mercy is a Chinese heiress.

At the school Mercy meets Headmistress Crouch who is amazed at her proficiency in English and who immediately begins checking Mercy's credentials. Crouch informs Mercy that she will be meeting Monsieur Du Lac on Friday. To Mercy's disappointment she discovers she will be studying French, comportment and embroidery rather than commerce or economics. After correcting Mercy's posture and telling her more of the rules she lets her know that she will be rooming with Elodie Du Lac.

At St. Clare's, Mercy meets Harriet Wincher, Katie Quinley who is from Red Rock Texas, twins Ruby and Minnie Mae Beauregard from South Carolina, Francesca Bellini and Father Goodwin. After Mass, Mercy attends her comportment class taught by Mr. Waterstone who informs her that he has a special interest in cultures of the Far East. Waterstone questions Mercy about Chinese customs and asks her to demonstrate a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Mercy, not having ever performed a traditional ceremony makes a ridiculous ceremony up on the spot.

Mercy and Elodie struggle to get along as roommates. After dinner and Good Friday Mass, Mercy prepares for her meeting with the Benevolent Association, coming up with the idea that the Du Lac's chocolates could be marketed to the Chinese as an funeral offering to the ancestors. Elodie informs Mercy that she will also be attending the meeting, but the Du Lac chauffeur, William informs the two girls that the meeting will have to be rescheduled. Furious, Mercy knows that she must show up at the meeting and manages to convince Elodie to stand in as proxy for her father, as she will someday be involved in his chocolate business.

The meeting before the Chinese Benevolent Association is almost a disaster, as Mercy presents her idea. Her friend Tom Gunn, whose father is a herbal doctor, is against allowing the chocolate to be sold in Chinatown for health reasons. However, the Benevolent Committee approves the selling of the chocolate in Chinatown. On her way home, Mercy stops to visit her family but her little brother Jack is asleep. Unbeknownst to her, it is the last time Mercy will see her mother and Jack. On the way back to St. Clare's, Elodie who has clued in to Mercy and Tom's mutual interest, tells Mercy that she will make Tom a consultant on the selling of chocolate to Chinatown, but Mercy tells her this will not be possible.

On Easter Sunday night, Mercy sneaks out of St. Clare's and meets Tom at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Tom tells her that he is leaving Tuesday at dawn for Seattle to work for a man who is building a plane. He tells a shocked Mercy not to wait for him and she, not wishing to dishonour him tells him he deserves to follow his dream. But inside she is crushed at Tom's decision.

The next days see Elodie bully Mercy and attempt to expose her. When Mercy reads the girls fortunes during embroidery class, Elodie informs the teacher, Mrs. Mitchell. The class is interrupted by Crouch who announces that two girls were seen leaving the grounds the previous night. One is discovered to be Katie Quinley who lost her shawl in the garden. Katie refuses to tell who the other girl was, but not wanting Katie to be punished, Mercy admits to being the other girl. She is whipped, sent to confess to Father Goodwin who assigns her penance to weed the herbal garden and is made to sleep in the attic. Headmistress Crouch also informs Mercy that she has sent correspondence to China to determine if Mercy is a legitimate Chinese heiress.

The next morning the girls are assigned to do their own laundry because Mercy's uniform was not turned inside out. Mercy uses her knowledge of laundry to quickly get her and her friends, Ruby, Minnie Mae, Katie and Francesca's laundry finished. Elodie is furious when she discovers what has happened and the two girls get into a brawl with Elodie revealing Mercy's true identity. Headmistress Crouch pulls Mercy from classes and assigns her to work in the kitchen until Monsieur Du Lac returns from his trip. As Mercy is pondering her immediate future in the garden, an earthquake strikes, destroying the school and changing Mercy's life forever.

Discussion

Outrun The Moon is an entertaining piece of historical fiction that provides readers with a snapshot of life in early 1900's America. The novel is centered around the devastating earthquake of 1906 which destroyed the city of San Francisco. Lee devotes a considerable part of the novel to portraying life in 1906 San Francisco before the earthquake - the first nineteen chapters - which set the stage for the disaster.  The city at this time was home to approximately 15,000 Chinese. Chinese were prevented from immigrating to America by the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, renewed in 1892 and made a permanent law in 1902. Many Chinese came to America during the Gold Rush years and were also laborers on the building of the railroad across the continent. However, they were gradually forced out of these jobs and many settled in cities like San Francisco where they worked in restaurants and laundries. The effect of the Chinese Exclusion Act was to prevent the Chinese men who were already in America from bringing over their families. As a result of this xenophobia, Chinese living in San Francisco in 1906 experienced intense discrimination.

Lee attempts to portray the racial discrimination Chinese experienced through her main character, Mercy Wong. Mercy, despite being born in America, is only able to attend the Chinese public school and there is no opportunity for her to further her education by attending high school. When Mercy first arrives at St. Clare's, she overhears the girls talking about her. Not only do they have little understanding of her culture, but their comments are derogatory. 

" 'You suppose she speaks English?' The talk continues.
'The ones here hardly speak any at all. Mother says they're not bright enough.'
Someone snorts. 'The girls in Chinatown hardly need English. They're all soiled.' The speaker lowers her voice, but I catch the word just the same."

Lee also informs her readers about some of the problems the Chinese community encountered in early 1900's San Francisco. Chinatown was located on prime land in the city, land that wealthy white business owners wanted. The Chinese community recognized this and refused to sell or to be driven away. When Mercy meets with the Benevolent Association she feels that the Chinese community should be less protectionist and more open to working with others so that they can gain the same rights as white Americans.

In her Author's Note at the back of the novel, Lee indicates that immediately after the earthquake, people of every race and class worked together to help one another. This is effectively portrayed in the novel as all the girls of St. Clare, led by Mercy Wong, work together, setting up a kitchen to feed the homeless survivors. In this way they bring together many different people in the city. Mercy begins to realize that what Mr. Mortimer, the mortician told her, that "death is the great equalizer", is true. Mercy notices that "some of the invisible walls are beginning to crack" between different people when a white woman offers crackers to a Sonoran woman and her child. As the St. Clare girls struggle amongst the ruins of the city, Mercy experiences more freedom than she's ever had before. Elodie, stripped of her friends, her mother dead and her father far away, is on equal footing with Mercy. Oliver Chance, a white man, seems to show interest in Mercy as he and a friend help out in the park. When Francesca suggests that he is from a good family, Mercy remembers that as a rule, white people do not associate with Chinese. As she notes, "The trembler moved us in mysterious ways, shifting underlying assumptions about social rank and order. "

Mercy is a strong female character, whose faith in God is severely tested by the disaster. She states that her brother "Jack's birth proved to me that God exists." But with his death, "the sea is empty for me." She struggles with the unfairness of their deaths, that she should be comfortable "when Ma and Jack suffered such unspeakable deaths." No religion offers her comfort. "The ancestors have turned their backs on my family, even after all those offerings we made. And Ba's Christian God - the all caring, all powerful one - He has been the most disappointing of all. Though I am not speaking to Him anymore, I still plead with Him to let me find Ba soon. It's the least You can do."

From the disaster Mercy becomes aware of how fragile life is. "You expect certain things to always be there, like the bakery on the corner, or the boy you grew up with. But when the very ground can eat you alive without warning, what's to say the ocean won't dry up? Or the stars won't suddenly shut off? Nothing is forever." She wonders what has happened to her father and if Tom is even safe.

With Chinatown destroyed, and Jack gone, Mercy has lost her sense of purpose. Jack and her ma no longer need a big house, or an easier life, nor will they feel hunger again. Mercy struggles to accept what has happened and how her life has changed. "The stars wink, teasing me with the notion that this has all been some colossal joke. That I will wake up any second in the living room of our flat on Clay Street with the smell of pomelo in the air. But the universe never jokes. It is always profoundly, unflinchingly serious." To deal with her pain of loss, Mercy reaches out to those in need and organizes the kitchen to help others who have suffered.

It's unfortunate that Lee decided to present such a negative view of a Catholic priest in her novel, choosing to portray Father Goodwin as unfaithful to his vows of celibacy. No doubt there have been Catholic priests through the ages who broke their vows, but was it really necessary to portray a priest in this disparaging manner in a young adult novel, especially when the main character, Mercy is a young Catholic girl struggling with her faith. It seems as though Lee succumbed to the current 21st century view that ALL Catholic priests are of poor character.

Overall, Outrun the Moon is a well written historical novel. Mercy's voice is sometimes humorous and at other times thoughtful. Her wit provides much comic relief and makes her seem a realistic character who finds within herself the ability to weather adversity. Her indomitable spirit causes Headmistress Crouch to reassess her view of Mercy whom she now considers to be someone who gets things done. Supporting Mercy is a well-developed cast of characters, each a bit different -  from the kindly Francesca, the spoiled rich girl Elodie to the crusty Headmistress Crouch. The novel takes its title from a phrase Mercy's mother tells her at the very beginning, that we cannot always control what happens in life, but we can view events with a different perspective. This is in reference to her telling Mercy that she has foreseen her own death. She reminds Mercy that she tells clients that they cannot change their destiny but they can change their perspective. " 'It is like the moon. We can see it differently by climbing a mountain, but we cannot outrun it. As it should be.' "

Book Details:

Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons Ltd.     2016
391 pp.