Daughter of Joy: A Novel of Gold Rush California (Women of the West) (U)

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of California's gold discovery, this novel in Forge's Women of the West series is based on the life of Ah Toy. A young Chinese woman who achieved wealth and fame in gold rush San Francisco, Ah Toy was the first Asian woman in America to "go to law," to employ the American judicial system to redress injustice.To her real-life adversary, Norman As-sing, chief of the Chinese in California, Ah Toy's flaunted independence is an affront. To Ah Toy, the merchant's assumed power and position is ridiculous. Their clash is inevitable and the stakes are high: power for him or independence for her. He brings to the battle wealth and influence. She brings youth, beauty, and courage.Their conflict is played out amid incomparably dramatic events: San Francisco's several disastrous fires, California's statehood celebration, a cholera epidemic, Vigilance Committee hangings, the rise of the tongs, a Chinese war in Weaverville.Ah Toy's story, set against this exciting backdrop of a turbulent era, is the immigrant's story, one of thousands unfolding as the world answered California's siren call of gold. For one young Chinese woman, the glittering promise is not just wealth but a new life in a new land--and a stirring new kind of freedom.