Chinatown Mission

Inspired by actual events, romance novelist Geraldine Burrows tells the sordid story of the ""singsong girls"" young Chinese women brought to America as prostitutes and slaves and the environment that allowed such malevolence to thrive. Set against the corrupt backdrop of early 20th century San Francisco, Chinatown Mission finds strong-willed minister's daughter Lorna Davidson fighting to help the girls. She runs into all kinds of trouble, including falling for the wrong man and winding up kidnapped herself. Though the writing tends to the florid, Burrows scores points for shining a light into a dark corner of American history.