Gold Mountain Blues

Canada, 2004Amy Smith knows nothing of her family history until she is summoned to her ancestral home in China to collect the artifacts, papers and letters that have gathered over the years. Her mother has always shielded her from her Chinese heritage. Finally, Amy can unlock the door to her past...China, 1879In 1879, with the Opium wars at their height, 16-year-old Fong Tak-Fat boards a ship to Gold Mountain, in the Canadian rockies, determined to make a life for himself and support his family back home. He will blast rocks for the Pacific Railway, launder linens for his countrymen, and save every penny he makes to reunite his family - for his heart remains in China. Canada, 1907After twenty years, Fong's sons are finally able to escape the ruthless persecution of the Cultural Revolution - only to find that life in Canada is as second-class citizens in a country where racism is still endemic. While Fong's sons fall in love, have children and go away to war, his beloved wife must remain in China, sustaining herself only on her husband's letters. Along with the other women of the family, over the years, she will be humiliated, damaged, beaten down by fate, but - like her husband - will never lose her pride. Spanning from the 1860s to the present day, Gold Mountain Blues is an epic, richly detailed novel about family, hope and sacrifice.