Henry Carter Hull

For decades-in China and in San Francisco-Winnie Louie and Helen Kwong have kept each other's confidences, but those secrets are about to be revealed. Convinced that she is dying, Helen decides to celebrate the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of hidden truths-not only hers, but those of Winnie and of Winnie's daughter, Pearl. So begins a series of comic misunderstandings and heartbreaking realizations about luck, loss, and trust-about the...

Violet Minturn, a half-Chinese/half-American courtesan who deals in seduction and illusion in Shanghai, struggles to find her place in the world, while her mother, Lucia, tries to make sense of the choices she has made and the men who have shaped her.