The Girl Who Wrote in Silk (34 page)

The inspiration for this novel sparked as I was researching the history of the San Juan Islands and came across a story in an old settler’s diary telling of nineteenth-century smugglers in the islands. One smuggler, it was rumored, had caught sight of a revenue cutter chasing him. Not wanting to be caught with illegal Chinese immigrants on board, he bashed their heads with a club and dumped their bodies overboard.

The story stuck with me for years, along with many questions. Why were they smuggling Chinese people? Why murder them? What was the story behind all of this?

And then I learned of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was an immigration law excluding people from the United States based on their Chinese race, although still allowing entry to some merchants. This was followed by the Geary Act of 1892, which discriminated equally against all Chinese immigrants. These acts were not repealed until 1943 with Public Law 199, which allowed Chinese to enter the United States under a rigid quota system. With anti-Chinese sentiment high in the latter half of the nineteenth century, white citizens in towns from Southern California to British Columbia and east to Wyoming and Colorado forcibly, and often violently, drove all Chinese out. Lynchings, shootings, and homicidal beatings were common.

The more I learned, the more I became horrified at the ethnic cleansing that had occurred and that was left unmentioned in all of my history books in school.

Although this story is a work of fiction, it draws from factual events. The Chinese residents of Seattle, more than three hundred fifty of them and many legal U.S. citizens, really were driven out of town on February 7, 1886. Fearful for their lives, they bought passage on the steamer
Queen
of
the
Pacific
, which was bound for San Francisco. However, before the steamer could leave dock, Territorial Governor Watson C. Squire intervened, ordering the anti-Chinese mob to desist the violence and declaring martial law. Judge Roger S. Greene interviewed every Chinese person, including those who had paid for passage on the steamer, and informed them of their right to leave or stay in Seattle. If they chose to stay, they would be protected.

The Chinese people who chose to stay were escorted back to their homes by the Home Guards, the Seattle Rifles, and the University Cadets, all there to protect the Chinese from the angry mob still rioting in favor of driving them from the city. After several months of unrest, peace was restored. Only one death occurred during the riots, that of a white rioter. Those who chose to leave reached San Francisco safely.

Since Seattle was an exception, I chose in this story to represent and honor all those whose lives were taken in other cities and towns by giving my Seattle Chinese a similar fate.

1. Discuss the role of race in this novel. What are some examples of racial discrimination you have experienced in your own life? Do you feel race relations have improved in the more than a century that has passed since Mei Lien’s time? Why or why not?

2. Discuss Mei Lien’s decision to hide herself and her son away on the farm to avoid contact with other people. In her shoes, would you have done the same thing or something different? Why?

3. Before reading this novel, had you already been aware of the “driving out” of Chinese people from American and Canadian towns? Share what you know. If you weren’t previously aware of these events, what was your reaction to learning of these racial purges?

4. Family relationships are a key theme in
The
Girl
Who
Wrote
in
Silk
. In what ways do you think Mei Lien and Inara have similar familial experiences? In what ways are their experiences different?

5. Both Mei Lien and Inara struggle with the death of loved ones. Discuss how their methods of mourning and honoring their lost loved ones differ or are similar. Is there anything they do or do not do that surprises you?

6. The island setting is an important one in both time periods. Do you think that Mei Lien and Inara experience Orcas Island in the same way or differently? What causes these similarities or differences?

7. Compare and contrast the father-daughter relationships in the story. How do you think they might have been different if the women’s mothers had lived?

8. After finding her grandmother’s body on the beach and realizing that her family had indeed been killed, Mei Lien feels that a part of her heart has died, a part that will forever keep her from loving Joseph fully. Do you think this comes to be true for her? Have you lost a loved one and felt that a part of you is now lost forever?

9. Inara struggles with accepting the fact that her ancestor committed a heinous crime. Do you think she is able to absolve her family of this shameful act? What would you do if you discovered an honored ancestor of yours had done something shameful?

10. The “driving out” of Chinese occurred loosely about the same time in U.S. history as when Native Americans were forced onto reservations. If you had been alive at the time, how do you think you would have felt about these events? Can you think of similar ethnic cleansings occurring in today’s time, in the United States or in other countries?

11. Inara turns down the Starbucks job to renovate and eventually manage the boutique hotel on Orcas Island. What motivates her to make this decision? What decision would you make in a similar circumstance? Keep in mind issues such as security, family obligations, location, social obligations, and financial peace of mind.

12. Which character, Mei Lien or Inara, did you feel more connected to? Why? Is one more or less authentic than the other?

13. If you inherited a large family estate, what would you do with the property?

14. Inara thinks of Aunt Dahlia, Gretna Campbell, and herself as the family “oddballs” because of their unique ways of relating to the world around them. Have you ever felt like an oddball? Were you able to embrace it as Inara does? Explain.

15. Mei Lien sees her loved ones in the animals around her. In the final scene of the book, Daniel and Inara hear a seal splash in the water and feel it is Mei Lien giving her approval for their relationship. Do you think loved ones could return as animals that can interact with us? If you could come back as an animal, what would you be and why?

16. What do you imagine happens next after the novel ends? Will Inara and Daniel stay together? Will the hotel and restaurant be successful? What effect, if any, will what Duncan Campbell did have on the characters’ lives?

17. Finding the embroidered sleeve changes the course of Inara’s life because the intricate beauty and mystery won’t let her go. Have you ever come across, or do you own, an object that had a similar effect on you?

18. Another theme of this novel is belonging and acceptance. Mei Lien is ostracized because of her race. Aunt Dahlia was sent to live on the island because of her sexual orientation. Inara chose a field of study to please her father and live up to the professional success of her siblings. In what ways have you struggled in your life for acceptance?

19. Inara agonizes over whether to honor her father’s wishes and keep the truth a secret, or tell the truth and know it will hurt people she cares for. If you were in a similar situation, what would you do?

20. If Mei Lien had lived, what do you think she might have done to support herself and her son? Where would their story have taken them, and what would have been different for Yan-Tao?

21. Mei Lien dresses as a boy to move freely and safely around Seattle. After she marries Joseph and starts dressing as a woman, she never really feels comfortable. Do you think her preference in clothing represents a deeper gender issue? What else might it represent for her?

22. We get hints at what Yan-Tao/Ken’s life was like in the orphanage based on the curriculum taught there and about his life in Seattle based on what Vera tells her family. Do you think he found happiness? Given what you know from the story and world events of the twentieth century, what do you think his life was like?

23. Inara suspects that Vera Chin made up the Chin family’s false background that Ken grew up in China and then immigrated to Seattle in the early 1900s. Vera claims it must have been a mix-up, but Inara wonders if Vera’s sense of pride motivated the stories. Think of your own family history and the members of your family who are the keepers of stories. Is the validity of any of your family stories suspect? Are there any that are outrageous, but you know them to be true?

24. Do you think Yan-Tao/Ken ever went back to the island to attempt to retrieve the sleeve his mother left for him in his secret hiding hole? Why or why not? If he did go back, why might he not have been successful?

What was your inspiration for writing
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk
?

In 2002, I was researching the history of the San Juan Islands for a historical romance I was writing when I read of a smuggler who, rather than face getting caught with his illegal cargo of Chinese people, chose to bash them on their heads with a club and throw their bodies overboard. Over the years, the horror of that story stuck with me. Once I learned of the attempted purge of all Chinese from Seattle, pieces started falling into place, and soon I had Mei Lien’s story.

I’ve always been fascinated by stories that recount history and its effects on contemporary characters, so I knew I wanted this story told in both time periods. Inara’s story grew out of the connection to Mei Lien through the house and the sleeve she finds there (more on that below), as well as the personal family connection she discovers while researching the sleeve. I chose to have Inara create a boutique hotel because I’ve always loved travel and tourism and think it would be fun to run a small hotel, so I had Inara do it for me.

Why did you have Mei Lien use embroidery to tell her story?

I was really stumped at first on what that “thing” would be that connected my historical and contemporary story lines (other than the house), so I took the issue to my plotting group. One of my plot helpers, Carol, told me of a framed, embroidered Chinese sleeve that she owned. Upon further research, I learned that wide, embroidered Chinese sleeve bands are often sold in China as souvenirs. These sleeves, however, are much different from the one Mei Lien creates. I had her pattern her entire robe, including the narrow sleeve with a horse-hoof cuff, after the court dragon robes worn by ranking officers in dynastic times because I liked the idea of Mei Lien’s grandmother telling her stories of life in China and Mei Lien choosing to honor that heritage in the garment for her son. The idea of a solitary sleeve stuck, however, and is why that was all Inara found under her stairs.

This story is told in both historical scenes and contemporary. Did you find one or the other more difficult to write?

I found Inara’s scenes, the contemporary ones, the most difficult. When writing in Mei Lien’s point of view, I could completely immerse myself, mentally, in that time period and its unique challenges, speech patterns, dress, etc. I loved researching what people ate in the 1880s and ’90s, what they wore, how they traveled, etc. I also found myself fascinated by the cultural differences of the time. And, though it was true to the period, I cringed every time I typed a racial slur, which made me so thankful I live in a time when Americans are more accepting of all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, and ethnicities. Or, at least, making progress toward acceptance.

I think the challenge in writing the contemporary scenes came more from making those as compelling as the historical because there was so much I found interesting and challenging about the historical story line. To make it easier, I completely wrote all of the historical chapters first and then wrote the contemporary chapters as though they were a separate book. Then I went back and wove them all together, even rearranging the chapters a few times until the flow made sense.

Why did you choose to set Mei Lien’s story on Orcas Island?

I knew I’d have her end up on one of the San Juan Islands because of the smuggling of Chinese immigrants through the islands and also simply because I adore that area and love spending time there, even if only in my head. I chose Orcas Island specifically after reading a fascinating settler’s diary that put me right on the island during that time period. If you’re interested, the book is
The
James
Francis
Tulloch
Diary
1875–1910
, compiled and edited by Gordon Keith. For those of you with sharp memories, yes, this is the same James Tulloch I have take over the mail carrier position when the islanders take it away from Joseph.

Did any characters in the book really exist, or did you base any characters on real people?

Yes, and I found it quite fun to slip real people into my story. Besides James Tulloch mentioned above, there was also:

•
Captain Herbert Beecher, who took Joseph and Mei Lien to Port Townsend. In real life, he was a steamer captain in the islands and the son of the famous protestant preacher and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher and nephew to Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of
Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
. I got a kick out of having Herbert help Mei Lien since he came from a family known for helping victims of racism.

•
The Baron, the store owner in Port Townsend who helped with the arrangements for Joseph and Mei Lien’s wedding, had the principal ship chandlery in Port Townsend and was one of the chief supply houses for the extensive lumber and logging interests in Puget Sound. Many loggers made his firm their bankers, as well. His real name was D. C. H. Rothschild and, as of this writing, his home is still open to the public as a museum.

•
Preacher Gray, whom I have Joseph mention in passing, really did go door-to-door on Orcas Island, asking residents for money to build a new Episcopal church in Eastsound. That church still stands today.

What research did you do to write this book?

I read everything I could find on Chinese embroidery, Chinese clothing and customs, the history of the San Juan Islands, the history of Seattle, how we ate in the late 1800s, construction methods of the 1880s and ’90s, Chinese food, steamships, the purges of Chinese from U.S. towns, and on and on. I visited the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle to read the information they had on the anti-Chinese riots, as well as the transcripts from oral histories of people who witnessed the event. While at the museum, I also toured their archive room to learn how textiles are safely stored and handled. I visited the history museums of both San Juan Island and Orcas Island and came away with tons of notes and pictures. I read stacks of books on historical homes to find just the right one to represent Rothesay and then decided to loosely base it on the house used in the movie
The
Sound
of
Music
. I read countless novels with a Chinese protagonist and nonfiction about Chinese settlers in the Pacific Northwest or Chinese women anywhere in the United States to better understand their experiences. Through all of this research, I came to embrace the belief that the more you know about a topic in which you previously had little interest, the more you grow to love it.

What was the most interesting experience you had while researching this book?

In a moment of serendipity, just as I was researching the Chinese experience in America, I learned of a special dinner the Wing Luke Museum was hosting, and I quickly signed up. On a warm July evening in 2010, I attended this dinner, called “Pigs’ Feet, Olives, Watermelon Seed: Chinese American Food of the 1880s,” featuring Seattle food anthropologist and cultural specialist Maxine Chan, who guided us through each course with stories and explanations of the foods before us. Some of the dishes I ate were preserved pomelo peel with pork, steamed egg, pigs’ feet, and much more. You’ll find more information and pictures from the dinner on my website at
www.kelliestes.com
.

Which character do you feel most closely connected to?

One might think my answer to this would be Inara since we are both Caucasian and living in the twenty-first century, but actually, I felt closest to Mei Lien. From the very first word I wrote in her point of view, I cared for her deeply and hated all the horrible things I was making her face. She and I are both mothers, and when I wrote the scene of her saying good-bye to Yan-Tao, I imagined having to do that to one of my own boys, and I felt her pain deeply. In fact, as silly as it may sound for an author to have such a reaction to her own writing, I still get a lump in my throat when I read that scene. Mei Lien’s struggles are not my own, yet I felt her pain as she lost her family, both times, and found the strength to do what was needed.

This is your first published novel. What was your journey to becoming an author? Did you always want to be a writer?

I always loved reading, voraciously, but never once considered that I could write the books I loved so much. To me, writers were people who lived a faraway magical life that had nothing to do with anything in mine. That changed when I met the woman who would later become my sister-in-law and she told me she was writing a romance novel. Here was a real live person who was writing a book? It could really be done? And so, I tried it and knew that, even though I had a huge learning curve ahead of me, it was exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

I graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in business management and went to work for an airplane manufacturer as a buyer and contract administrator. Though I enjoyed the work, I wasn’t passionate about it, which is why I found it easy to walk away when my husband offered to support me as I became a writer and stay-at-home mom. This experience made it easy for me to relate to Inara when she realized working for Starbucks wasn’t her passion. In the fourteen years between quitting that job and selling this novel, I wrote six manuscripts, attended countless writing workshops and conferences, and raised two boys who are now in school all day, which allows me to focus on writing. There’s that serendipity again—giving me more time to write just as I launch my publishing career!

What is the most challenging part of being a writer?

For me, the most challenging part of being a writer is finding balance between writing and everything else that needs to be accomplished in a day. It seems like just when I achieve that balance, something changes and I need to start all over again. While my kids are still living at home, they will always be my priority. If I’m not careful, I could easily fill a whole day with volunteering at the kids’ schools, running errands, making dinner…and suddenly there’s no time or energy left to write. I’ve learned to schedule writing time every day in my planner, the earlier in the day, the better (the same is true for exercise), and to set weekly goals and make it a rule that if those goals don’t get accomplished, I don’t get to relax on the weekend.

Where do you get your story ideas?

Ideas come from everywhere, and I find it an adventure to pay attention to everything and everyone around me for nuggets of inspiration. From television shows and movies to overheard conversations at the grocery store to magazine articles and plaques on the side of a building…everything is a potential story. I keep a file of articles and notes of things I find interesting—anything from job descriptions to pictures of jewelry to whole plot ideas. When I’m ready to start working on a new book idea, I’ll open this file and see what ignites the flame. Usually I’ll pull together several ideas that I’d previously thought were each a book themselves but really are just one aspect or one plotline of a much more complicated story. I also like to make a list of things I’m passionate about at the time and work those into my story to keep it fun. For this book, things from that list were San Juan Islands history, driving out of Seattle Chinese, Seattle history, boutique hotels, summer, water, and forest. My next book will likely include exercise, vegan food, and female friendships.

Do you know how to create embroideries?

No, I don’t have that talent. Embroidery wasn’t something I was ever interested in until after I started researching it for this book. Like all things we think we don’t like in life, I found that learning more about it made my fondness grow. I now own clothing with embroidery and recently received an antique embroidered Chinese sleeve as a gift from the same sister-in-law who inspired me to start writing. As for creating something embroidered myself… Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll learn how.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Begin by writing as often as possible and learning as much as possible by attending workshops, conferences, and critique groups. Be open to feedback. Read books on craft. Read your favorite authors and pay attention to structure, word choice, plot, conflict, character development, etc. Write more. And then, once you have a good understanding of all the writing “rules,” give yourself permission to ignore it all and be true to your own voice and your own story. I wrote four romances and one women’s fiction before this book, paying close attention every time to the rules, and when I started writing this one, I let all that go and had no idea where it would even be shelved in a bookstore. During the revision process, it started to come together. Trust yourself, trust your voice, trust the story that comes to you, and you’ll find success. Also, don’t rush. It will take longer than you think to have a finished book, and that’s okay.