"Daughters of the Sun and Moon"| Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

If historical fiction is your preferred genre, you’ve probably read at least one of Lisa See’s novels. Her impressive backlog of historical fiction sometimes reflects See’s passion for writing based on her Chinese American heritage. My personal favorite of See’s is “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” (2005.)

Many years and books later, See continues to captivate. Her just released novel “Daughters of the Sun and Moon” is a throat-clutcher that culminates in a tragic historical event, the Night of Horrors in Los Angeles on Oct. 24, 1871. That horrific night 18 Chinese men and boys were rounded up and murdered, many hung and mutilated. The event is especially relatable because See’s great-grandfather, who was Chinese, and her great-grandmother, who was White, moved to Los Angeles in 1897 hoping to find a safe place to raise their 5 biracial children.

Lee deftly unspools her story, using the tragedy as the climax to a narrative based on three fictional Chinese women and their immigrant experiences in America. Two of the women, Dove and Petal, are sent to the States by their families and arrive on the same ship. Dove, a great beauty with bound feet is sad to leave her family but excited for the opportunities and love she will find in Los Angeles.

Petal has had anything but an easy upbringing, her family often not having enough to eat. She’s called “worthless girl” because daughters aren’t valued by their parents. Her father sells her, a shock that lands Petal on a ship, where she’s kept in the bowels of the vessel in deplorable conditions, starved and mistreated. This is a precursor to her treatment when she arrives in America and is promptly sold into prostitution.

Though Dove is on the same ship, her passage to America is as vastly different from Petal’s as her personal history has been. Dove is from a prestigious family who believe Dove will blossom and prosper in Los Angeles as the second wife of a lonely man eager to have a Chinese woman for comfort and companionship.

Sadly, Petal and Dove are both in for a rude awakening—Petal does all she can to adjust to being used by man after man, and Dove struggles to accept living with one man who is nothing like the handsome youth she expected. Both women are bound in ways they couldn’t have foreseen in a new land they don't understand.

Personal reflections on Petal and Dove’s fate, and her own life, are revealed by the third main character, Moon, as she looks back, narrating her story in 1926. Moon is a wise, compassionate, intelligent Chinese woman married to a well-respected physician who practices herbal medicine. She is the moral compass who guides and advises Petal and Dove. Moon’s devoted husband is based on an actual doctor who lived in the 1880s and was murdered on the Night of Horrors.

An excellent balance of history, coupled with a harrowing, heartfelt plot, make “Daughters of the Sun and Moon” a stand out, a book to be remembered and recommended. Though the Night of Horrors happened decades ago, this well written novel is timely, serving as a cautionary tale regarding exclusion and prejudice. End notes by See offer factual information on Los Angeles’ in the early days as a lawless city and details about the Night of Horrors, including the names of those who lost their lives.

Buy the book