The Lost Girl

Young Joe Walker rescues a baby girl from certain death and though she’s Chinese, his family makes a decision to keep her and name her Charity.  Unfortunately, in a small mining town in Wyoming, this decision changes their future since Chinese are not welcome or appreciated. The Walker brothers become divided over what to do about Charity. Sam wants her gone. He can’t abide the “Chinee” and how his family is shunned over their association. Joe will do anything to keep Charity safe and close to home.  But when Charity grows up and falls in love, she’s caught between two cultures and must decide to follow the law or follow her heart.

The author does a superb job of showing the reader the racial tensions between the whites and the Chinese in 1870s Wyoming. The details of the Chinese culture were particularly well done. Charity is caught between the culture she was born to and the one she was raised in, and this depiction is what makes this story stand out.  However, the author chose to begin the story with Charity as a newborn and almost each chapter from there skips ahead from a few months to a few years. This made the book a bit choppy because readers have to constantly re-orient themselves to what’s happening in Charity’s life within a new time frame.  Beyond this, though, the book was solid in its characterization and plot and the reader will think of this one long after they’ve put it down.

Kate Campbell