TL;DR: A heartbreaking story of a young girl lost from her home and forced into an unimaginable life.
Source: NetGalley, so many thanks to the publisher!
Plot: Little Sparrow is born to a woman who cares little for her and sold at a young age.
Characters: A diverse and interesting cast but all of them are deeply flawed.
Setting: Initially starting in China this moves to the early US. The setting isn’t the strongest but it also isn’t the point of the novel.
History: If you’re a historical fan I think this one could be a hit. It’s a great time period with interesting tidbits and events I had never read about before.
Summary:
Little Sparrow, Julia, Afong Moy, Madame Moy, The Chinese Lady, were her many names . . . but her true name has been lost to time.
In 1834 Afong Moy was brought to New York by two merchants as a live exhibit. Rising to fame as the first Chinese female in the United States, she became an oddity among curios as Americans marveled at the opportunity to observe her astonishing little feet, broken and bound to resemble lotuses.
As the story moves from 1820s Canton to P.T. Barnum’s American Museum, to Gold Rush San Francisco, three women introduce us to her many names. Her mother calls her Little Sparrow and sells her to a captain who sails her to New York. The captain’s wife names her Julia and “graciously” treats her as her own. And when she is shunted off to P.T Barnum, her fellow human exhibitions call her China. Eventually arriving in San Francisco’s Chinatown, she will at long last claim her name and her own story.
Combining archival research and brilliantly imaginative storytelling, Bo Wang masterfully fills in history’s gaps to weave a powerful narrative of survival in the face of hardship, tragedy, and betrayal. Told through the eyes of those around her; mirroring her life as an object on display, until we finally see the world through her own eyes.
Thoughts:
Occasionally I’ll pick up a historical fiction novel hoping for an intriguing story and something will teach me something. I don’t always find it but this is one that paid off. Bo Wang takes a look at the almost unknown story of the first Chinese woman in America and tries to imagine what her like was like. We know almost nothing about this woman besides facts from others notes, journals, and articles so our author takes that approach for the majority of the book. First we hear about her younger life from her mother. She’s born Third Sister, or Little Sparrow, to a mother who doesn’t truly want her.
From there we follow her as she’s sold to a merchant and is put into the hands of Margaret, a woman constrained to life with a controlling husband. Eventually she is sent off and ends up with P.T. Barnum and his ‘Family’, where she rooms with Joice. We see what she is like as a young woman through Joice’s PoV till finally she flees P.T. Barnum and we finally truly meet her as Mistress Moy.
There is a here to be said about the white savior complex. How the real Afong Moy’s story is lost in time and where she could have gone. The angle Bo Wang takes, the life she gives her after Barnum’s (which in reality is where our knowledge ends) is intriguing and adds new depth. For me the theme of women caring, or not, for other women was impactful. The book begins with her mother, who is a deeply flawed individual and her treatment and lack thereof truly sets the tone for the rest of the novel.
If you want something different and with a unique story, this is a great one to pickup. Bo Wang did a wonderful job imagining what this woman’s life was like and where she could have gone and I recommend this one for historical fans.
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