Chasing Down the Moon

In 1883, Ya Zhen--a young Chinese woman--is sold into slavery by her father when the family faces starvation. Enduring brutality and deprivation, she is forced from her home in the mountains of Hunan and taken by ship to San Francisco. Ya Zhen eventually faces a daily struggle to survive captivity in Eureka, a rugged and remote area of coastal California.

In Eureka, another young woman--Rose Allen--grapples with the social expectations and cultural prejudices that dominate life in the late Victorian era. Rose joins forces with a small group of friends who are determined to help Ya Zhen escape her grim incarceration. But as even as they devise a plan to get her free, a terrible accident precipitates the upheaval of the entire town, and tension mounts as the clock begins ticking for everyone.

With a rich cast of unforgettable characters both fictional and historical, Chasing Down the Moon is based on true events that tore a community apart. This gripping historical fiction and literary love story will break your heart, give you reason to hope, and ultimately make you believe in the resilience of the human spirit.