BONUS: Includes nonfiction article "The Battle Over Chinatown
After San Francisco's Earthquake and Fire of 1906."
GOLD MOUNTAIN tells the story, within the framework of a
novel, of San Francisco's Chinatown immediately before, during and after the
Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906. Against the background of the Chinese
Exclusion Act and miscegenation laws comes a tale of love and loss. Ruth Greer,
wealthy daughter of a shipping magnate, finds a young boy who has run away from
his home in Chinatown--an area of gambling parlors, opium dens, sing-song girls,
as well as families trying to eke out a living. It is also home to a number of
highbinder tongs, the infamous "hatchet men" of Chinese lore.
There, Ruth meets the boy's father, Li Han-lin, the
handsome, enigmatic leader of one such tong, and discovers he is neither as
frightening, cruel, or wanton as reputation would have her believe. As Ruth's
fascination with the area grows, she finds herself pulled deeper into the
intrigue of the lawless area, and Han-lin's life. But the two are from
completely different worlds, and when both worlds are shattered by the
earthquake and fire that destroys San Francisco, they face their ultimate test.
[Originally published under pseudonym JoMarie Lodge.]
After San Francisco's Earthquake and Fire of 1906."
GOLD MOUNTAIN tells the story, within the framework of a
novel, of San Francisco's Chinatown immediately before, during and after the
Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906. Against the background of the Chinese
Exclusion Act and miscegenation laws comes a tale of love and loss. Ruth Greer,
wealthy daughter of a shipping magnate, finds a young boy who has run away from
his home in Chinatown--an area of gambling parlors, opium dens, sing-song girls,
as well as families trying to eke out a living. It is also home to a number of
highbinder tongs, the infamous "hatchet men" of Chinese lore.
There, Ruth meets the boy's father, Li Han-lin, the
handsome, enigmatic leader of one such tong, and discovers he is neither as
frightening, cruel, or wanton as reputation would have her believe. As Ruth's
fascination with the area grows, she finds herself pulled deeper into the
intrigue of the lawless area, and Han-lin's life. But the two are from
completely different worlds, and when both worlds are shattered by the
earthquake and fire that destroys San Francisco, they face their ultimate test.
[Originally published under pseudonym JoMarie Lodge.]
