Gates of Grace — Evelina Chao

Beginning with the dramatic departure of the last boat allowed to leave China before Mao's Community Party sealed off the country in 1949, Gates of Grace continues in the tradition of Belva Plain's Evergreen and Cynthia Freeman's A World Full of Strangers, uncovering an aspect of the American immigrant experience few of us know.

This is the story of the struggle, the heartache, and the bittersweet triumph of Mei-yu Wong, a young Chinese woman seeking her share of the American dream. Like many other Chinese immigrants, Mei-yu and her husband Kung-chiao settle in New York's Chinatown. But here as in the country at large, they are outsiders, Mandarins among a majority of Cantonese. As they strive to establish new roots, a spellbinding world comes to light, one of grinding poverty, crowded living conditions, and sweatshops -- all controlled by rival elders who rule the community with an iron fist.

Amid the fierce clannishness and mistrust of the outside world around him, Kung-chiao dares to pursue his engineering studies and Mei-yu works for the powerful Madame Peng as a seamstress. But just as Mei-yu begins to establish a reputation as a talented dressmaker and their future brightens, the couple are caught in the crossfire of the sinister feuds that mar life in Chinatown. A pawn in a larger game she does not suspect exists and posed between Madame Peng and Colonel Chang, two chieftains vying for Chinatown's future, Mei-yu must face murder and betrayal -- choices just as difficult and heartbreaking as the ones she made in her homeland.

A dramatic, deeply felt first novel, Gates of Grace illuminates the rarely explored, rich cultural heritage of the American Chinese -- and offers a rewarding experience for us all.