One grand home on Orcas Island; one beautifully embroidered silk sleeve hidden under a stair; two stories told a century apart fated to come together in the end. The first story is Mei Lein's. In 1886, the Chinese Exclusion Act forces Mei Lein and her family to board a freighter with the rest of the Chinese population of Seattle. They believe they are being taken back to China. When she accidentally learns that they are all to be killed, her father pushes her overboard and tells her to swim to nearby Orcas Island. The second story belongs to Inara Erickson, great great great granddaughter of shipping magnate Duncan Campbell (See where this is going?). The family estate on Orcas Island has been left to her by a maiden aunt. Her family expects her to sell but she is determined to renovate and make it a destination hotel. When she finds the mysterious sleeve under a staircase, she begins to do research into how it came to be there. And so the two stories stories eventually weave into one.
The author considers herself a writer of romance so there is a bit of that contrived chick lit feel. On the other hand, I find that historical fiction is the impetus to research all that regrettable history left out of our history books.
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