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The Paper Daughters of Chinatown
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
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The Paper Daughters of Chinatown
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Summary
A powerful story based on true events surrounding Donaldina Cameron and other brave women who fought to help Chinese-American women escape discrimination and slavery in the late 19th century in California.
When Donaldina Cameron arrives at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls in 1895, she intends to teach sewing skills to young Chinese women immigrants, but, within days, she discovers that the job is much more complicated than perfect stitches and even hems. San Francisco has a dark side, one where a powerful underground organization - the criminal tong - brings Chinese young women to America to sell them as slaves. With the help of Chinese interpreters and the Chinatown police squad, Donaldina becomes a tireless social reformer to stop the abominable slave and prostitution trade.
Mei Lien believes she is sailing to the "Gold Mountain" in America to become the wife of a rich Chinese man. Instead she finds herself sold into prostitution - beaten, starved, and forced into an opium addiction. It is only after a narrow escape that she hears of the mission home and dares to think there might be hope for a new life.
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What listeners say about The Paper Daughters of Chinatown
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Eric Rochford
- 24-11-22
worth a listen
Overall I found the book enjoyable, having been unfamiliar with the subject matter.
Once I attuned myself to the narrator's questionable Oirish/Scottish version of Dolly's accent,which grated on my Irish nerves, I found the performance generally strong.
I felt the novel itself was quite interesting and had some strong characters, although I thought it should have come to a natural ending a few chapters earlier. I'm a bit disappointed that the author didn't elaborate more about the historical accuracy of some of the Chinese characters in her afterwords, as I felt they were slightly underdeveloped in the novel and I wondered if that was an attempt at trying not to misrepresent a true historical person. While I appreciate the story of Dolly and her work, I would have appreciated some more development of the later storys of some of the Chinese characters.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- the bookworm
- 14-02-24
Amazing
It was such an incredible read and the narrator did such a good work. It's my first audiobook and the story was captivating. Despite the brutal themes, the author did a good job delivering the truth. I highly recommend it!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Louise
- 07-02-23
Poorly written
The language is basic and oversimplified, the kind you expect when you buy a novel from a gas station. The story seems interesting, but I can't get past the language to finish.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- christine macbrien
- 10-10-23
History brought to life.
It was an enjoyable book and it offered a glimpse of American history behind the scenes.
But like another reviewer, the voice was irritating, especially the accent given to Donaldina. More of the northern Irish than themScots. After all that research, such a blunder.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Eva Dukes
- 07-10-22
Excellent insight into Chinese slavery in the USA
Really enjoyed this book. I was not aware of the amount of Chinese women in sex slavery in the US in the early part of the last century so this was an insight to me. However, if I did have one complaint the narrator clearly doesn’t know the difference between a Scottish accent and a soft Irish accent.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julie
- 05-06-22
Couldn't Put It Down!
Great story, amazing women.
I saw some reviews about the narration and it nearly put me off, I'm so glad it didn't! No the voice of Dolly doesn't sound Scottish but it takes nothing way from the great writing and the fascinating story.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mrs Montgomerie
- 20-08-22
Let down by narrator
The ‘Scottish’ accent is really off putting, and she could have looked in to how to pronounce Riordan and Inverness…
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DiLa
- 06-03-22
Fascinating
Well narrated but I think she could have left out the accent for Dolly. It sounded Irish rather that Scottish to me and I don't think it added anything to the story but was a bit off-putting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sonners
- 09-12-23
Beautiful book
Fabulous book and the narrators voice was lovely. Only criticism is her accent for Dolly - it was a bit confused.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- C. A. Harfleet
- 12-07-23
Factually interesting but poorly written and way too long
I only kept listening because the subject matter was interesting pand further proof of how horrifying mankind especially man can be, but I fell asleep very easily and so skipped a lot of it. It did not read like a piece of literature but more an account, that was way too long. The narration would have been improved without the attempt of a strange accent for Dolly.
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