This was a fascinating read based on the life of Donaldina (Dolly) Cameron. This book is historical fiction and was well researched with an interesting story. Dolly worked hard to protect the lives of Chinese-American women and girls who were sold into slavery in the late 19th century. Dolly started out as a young teacher and eventually became the director of Occidental Mission Home for Girls. The young ladies that were sold into slavery were treated poorly. Dolly and her team recued many young ladies from the horror of prostitution, drug dependency, and deplorable conditions.

Other story lines in this book are about the girls that were recued. Many were kidnapped in China or sold by their parents with the promise they would marry a wealthy American. The book tells the story of several of the paper daughters. The book is hart wrenching as well as uplifting. Some of these young ladies showed such courage and resolve to change their situations with great personal dangers.

I really enjoyed this book and would like to read more about Dolly. This book only covers part of her life. I would like to thank #NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore

When I began reading The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, I anticipated reading an entertaining story interspersed with enough historical details to lend authenticity to a captivating plot. Instead author Heather B. Moore introduced me to an incredible woman, driven by passion, love and God who changed the lives of everyone with whom she associated.

From the beginning of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, I was drawn into the life narrative of Donaldina Cameron. As I read the fast moving plot, I sensed the meticulous historical research behind the story because of the depth and passion in the characters and the way they came alive to share the heartache and pain of Miss Cameron and her Chinese daughters.

Moore’s telling of this piece of history is provocative and sometimes hard to read because the events that surround Miss Cameron’s relentless work at the Occidental Mission Home is dark, brutal, ugly and at times unthinkable except to those who experienced it. That said, I think that is what makes Heather B. Moore’s telling of this story even more remarkable. She’s taken an obscure and intensely inhumane slice of Chinatown history and showed us what God can do with dedicated, average people to work His miracles and bring hope to people who have no hope. I received a complimentary copy of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown for my candid review.

A fascinating look into a horrifying world - I couldn't stop reading this book. The story was so rich and beautifully told, it made a perfect escapist read during these crazy times, I can't wait to share it.

This is a must read! This book delves into the human trafficking trade in the late 1800's-early 1900's in San Francisco. It was very eye opening and heart wrenching, as well as being very uplifting. I was unaware of Donaldina Cameron. I am so grateful for people like her who give so much for the welfare of others. I know that human trafficking is still going strong today, which is terrifying. This book is a clarion call to all of us to do something. Whether it is financial or physical, we can all make a difference. I would highly recommend this book. It is a book that will stay with you for a very long time.

I am a total clean romance junky, so I was unsure about this book. But i absolutely love this author and everything she writes is well thought out and researched, so of course I requested, and boom another fabulous job. This book was fascinating, sad and fully inspiring. I was unable to put it down and finished in a few days. I love learning about real people who have changed even a small part of the world. And this woman did so much for the Asian community in San Francisco at the turn of the last century. I thoroughly enjoyed this story!

I really enjoyed this book. It was thoughtful, well-written, and educational. It reminds me a bit of other female missionary books such as the biographies of Amy Carmichael in India or Jackie Pullinger in Hong Kong. I learned a lot about the Chinese immigrant experience and the problems of slavery around the turn of the 20th century. This was a fast and enjoyable read!

ASTOUNDING! Gave me a new view on the Chinese experience at the turn of the 1900s. WOW! The story was so moving and powerful. I thought that the author was brilliant by giving two sides of the equation...the rescued and the rescuer.
I absolutely loved the fact that it was based upon historical fact.
This book should be mandatory reading for any human trafficking class.
The only downside is that I thought that the should have ended the story when Huang Sun came back. The rest of the book did not add anything significant to the overall story. Very minor, but annoying.
Overall a fantastic book and one that was hard to read at times.

This magnificent book highlights the plight of Chinese and Japanese young girls who were lured into slavery in the United States. This rendition of the selfless courage of the people who sought to save these hapless girls and give them light and courage to grow as worthwhile women has deeply touched me. To bear witness to such humility illuminates what we can do if we will hold hands and not turn our cheeks.

This is a very well written book. I think it’s extremely difficult to take a hard topic like this and make it interesting (albeit sad) rather than horrifying to read. Heather Moore has a gift for this kind of writing and historical fiction in general. I appreciate the research that she puts into her writing and the character development is always good in her books.

Excellent and well-written story of Donaldina Cameron, a true-life hero.. Ms. Cameron worked at a girls mission beginning in the late 1890’s in San Francisco. She and her team risked their lives to rescue Chinese girls who were lied to, their parents/family lied to at home, given money, and the young girls brought overseas and forced into prostitution. I thought the delicate subject was handled with care and sensitivity. While the subject matter is difficult, the stories were told with respectful. These rescued girls were given a home, compassion, dignity, hope, and love, where otherwise they likely would have died in the streets. Many were forcibly addicted to opium to make them more compliant. We need more Donaldinas in the harsh world today, as human trafficking continues worldwide. This is a true story interwoven with some fictional characters. If you like history and humanity stories you will enjoy this one. I’ve read other books about the mis-treatment of the Chinese who came over here to help build railroads in San Francisco and were treated quite brutally; this book targets a specific population and one person who took it upon herself to help solve a problem that seems never ending. Highly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow, such an excellent book. This book was extremely well-written and intriguing, based on the life of Donaldina "Dolly" Cameron, who worked tirelessly to rescue Chinese slave girls/women/prostitutes from the Chinese tong in Chinatown in San Francisco from the late 1800s/early to mid 1900s. The author chose to focus the book from when Dolly arrives at the mission home to the rebuilding of the mission home after the San Francisco earthquake and fires in 1906, ending in 1908. However, she prefaces and ends the book with extensive documentation about the facts of Dolly's life and which characters in the book are real and which are based on stories of other characters. I was completely unaware of this human trafficking/slave trade going on in the United States during that time period and the underground of San Francisco's Chinatown. Moore's extensive research shows through her writing and her efforts to be historically accurate while still taking (what seem to be mild) liberties with her story. A large portion of the book shifts timeline/focus back and forth between Dolly's humanitarian efforts and Mei Lien (whom is a made-up character based off of a compilation of real experiences and real women Moore encountered in her research). We follow Mei Lien's journey from leaving her mother in China with her new "aunt" and "uncle" to come to America for what she believes to be a golden opportunity to come to America as a bride-to-be, even up to the point where she is placed on display naked before her potential buyer, when she finally realizes everything her "aunt" and "uncle" told her and her mother was not to be. This book offers the perspective of what some women went through in the lies they and their families were told in order to get them to come to America, the buying and selling of them once they reached America, the pitiful amount of money their families received for them (if any at all), their forced addiction to opium, abuses, etc. I'm not sure why Moore chose to focus on a woman who was in a better circumstance than most in a high-end brothel rather than the more destitute prostitution cribs and harsher circumstances, though maybe it's because she brings Mei Lien's character back into contact with her madam, Ah-Peen Oie (a real-life character) at the end of the book. Moore does touch briefly on those harsher circumstances in some of the rescues that Dolly and the other mission home translators/Chinese women and the cops go on to help the women of Chinatown. Dolly's own personal heartbreaks in her life are mentioned. She comes alive as such a real woman with her own desires for her personal life and love but also her drive to help these women, youth, and children affected by such a horrid business by the Chinese tongs to dominate and take advantage of unsuspecting women, as well as their families back home, who believed they were providing their daughters with a better life in America. The book ends with hope for what Dolly and the mission home provided for these women but with a clear impression that their work was continuing on and by no means complete.

In her afterword, along with notations and documentation of her extensive research, Moore mentions the atrocities of human trafficking that are still going on today and the many organizations that are fighting against it. This is not new to our society, unfortunately, but through this book Moore documents and brings awareness to such a sad time period of this Chinese slave trade and the fight of Ms. Cameron and many others who worked/work tirelessly to help as many as they could.

Content: A clean read, with no bad language. The mentions of the harsh conditions, sex, drugs, abuse, etc. are not graphic or heavily dwelt on, just enough for you to know what's going on.

I loved this book! Heather B. Moore is such a genius in researching the history, geography, and people in her books that they become real (of course in this case they are real) and relate-able. Donaldina Cameron was a real person who truly lived and worked and prayed for and Loved the “Paper Daughters” who were stolen or tricked away from home and family and forced into slavery, servitude, and often addiction to opium which was one more tool of control by the wicked people who bought these children and women.

With such a dark setting, in less capable hands, this could have been a very dark and scary story. Ms. Moore beautifully shares the humanity, care, and love that Donaldina “Dolly” had for the children and women she helped to rescue and teach, and they loved her, too! Dolly was a spinster who never had children of her own, yet she was mother to many, both legally through guardianship papers as well as through loving care. This story begins in 1895 with Dolly’s arrival at 920 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, at the Occidental Mission Home and chronicles how she learned the work of both teaching and going on raids to rescue slaves. Dolly’s adventures carried her through fighting for her girls against the Tongs, political and legal challenges, plague, earthquake, and fire.

I appreciated learning more about the history of San Francisco through the eyes of Dolly and some of her girls. My heart was touched as I learned more about this time period and the challenges these women faced as they continued the fight against slavery well after the civil war ended. This book was well researched, well written, and engaging to the heart as well as the mind.

This book was absolutely amazing. It is the story of Donaldina Cameron who began working in San Francisco in 1895 at a mission home that rescued Chinese women and girls from lives of slavery. She started as the sewing teacher, but was soon an essential member of the rescue team. Eventually, she became the director of the home.
This is historical fiction at it's finest. Supported by documented facts and countless hours of research, Moore weaves a complex tapestry. She skillfully intertwines the story of fictitious Mei Lien with the more historical account of Donaldina. This is a book of both tragedy and hope. The horrors these Chinese Paper Daughters suffered at the hands of their owners is heartbreaking. This book had me shedding tears. But at the same time my admiration and respect for Donaldina and others like her has grown. Human trafficking is a problem that has not disappeared. This story is a reminder of how one person's efforts can positively influence the lives of many.
This was an amazing journey and I am so glad that Moore wrote this story. It will stay with me for a very long time. Thanks Netgalley for the ARC. #Netgalley. #Heather Moore #paperdaughters

This evocative novel tactfully deals with the sensitive issue of human trafficking, weaving well researched details into a cohesive and compelling narrative.  Heather B. Moore does an excellent job with telling the human side of the history, from an angle of hope and redemption.  Although losses are acknowledged and this is a very dark and disturbing subject, the author has focused her narrative on successes and this book brings with it a feeling of light.  Historical notes and experiences from the life and perspective of Donaldina Cameron, tactfully covering years of her early experiences at the Occidental Mission Home, are woven throughout the book with a fictionalized compilation of experiences told to give us an insider's perspective of the slave trade.  This character's experience draws you in and helps you feel the depths that these courageous women were rescued from and the heights they were able to reach with the loving support and care of a heroine and her group of dedicated individuals. This story will stay with me for a long time! This was a standout among this prolific author's impressive works.

I received a complimentary book.  A review was not required and all opinions and ideas expressed are my own.

Paper Daughters by Heather Moore is a real eye opener. Takes place in San Franisco and the Bay Area. Heather brings this events of real life to China Town 1895 -mid 1900s.
Donaldina (Dolly) Cameron saves the lives of many children and young ladies. She was one amazing lady.

This book was well written and true to the author’s high standard. I did not finish the book due to subject.

San Francisco in the late 1800's and early 1900's was an interesting place. I would assume there were wonderful parts of it, but this book is mostly in Chinatown where a travesty of women was taking place. This book shows the amazing work of a woman who gave her life to saving women of all ages from slavery and prostitution. The book was not graphic, but the points were well made. The use of opium, prostitution, and abuse are in this book, and it is not without its sorrow as the reader delves into the lives of some of these women.

I appreciate the authors class in bringing this subject forward. It was written without vulgarity and tastefully done. I appreciate how you followed a few of the women through a longer period of their lives and watch the changes they made.

I would recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction and those who appreciate history of strong women.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for an Advanced copy.
What can I say? I loved this story. I had never heard of Donaldina Cameron and her fight to help those that were lied to about a better life upon arrival in the United States. She did so helped so many succeed in life. Most of the characters are real and the fictional characters were a great addition to the story. The author did a wonderful job telling the history of Donaldina Cameron.
"A powerful story about Donaldina Cameron and other brave women who fought to help Chinese-American women escape discrimination and slavery in the late 19th century in California." This is the description of the book and yes, it is, indeed a very powerful story.

An excellent novel depicting the courage of an American woman in saving and offering shelter to Chinese women slaves for close to 40 years. Starting at the end of the 19th century, Donaldina Cameron showed endless courage and humanity to provide a future to the women she considered her daughters. Very well and cleverly written with original short reports on the situation at the time, from theat time. Highy recommended read to these sensitive to non fiction heroes. Thanks to NetGalley to allow me to read this book. Christine Boos

A heartbreaking look at something that still plagues our society today — the evil of human trafficking. Dolly was an amazing example of what an impact just one person can have, even with limited resources. One thing that was never lacking though, was faith, love, and hope.

Clean, well-written, and thoroughly researched, I was honored with an advance copy and highly recommend this book!