It oughta be a movie: Daughter of Fortune, by Isabelle Allende

This book is a historical adventure romance that also explores cultural prejudices, gender roles, and what it means to love someone - all in really interesting ways. The protagonist, Eliza, is an (apparent) orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a very British Victorian spinster, Rose Sommers, and her brother Jeremy - as well as their indigenous cook, Mama Freesia, who is a second maternal figure for Eliza. Shortly after her lover Joaquin Andieta leaves to join the California gold rush, Eliza realizes she is pregnant. She stows away on a ship heading for California with the aid of Mama Freesia and a Chinese doctor, Tao Chi'en, who is serving as the ship's physician. Checking on her later, he finds her having a miscarriage and majorly sea-sick, and reluctantly looks after her until she recovers.

     Tao had, in his youth, vowed never to get involved with a woman with a strong character and big feet1. However, his opinions of women have already been somewhat altered by his wife, Lin. She was, outwardly, just the demure sort he had looked for. But she was also her own person, who he came to love, as he came to hate her bound feet because they kept her from getting the exercise she needed to aid her tuberculosis. After she died, he got "shanghaied" on a Western ship, which is how he eventually ended up in Chile.

     The duo disembark in California, and travel together for a while. Then Tao settles in San Francisco while Eliza continues her quest. Though it isn't the main theme of the story, their separate storylines rather fascinatingly end up illustrating the vast range of experiences of sex workers. Eliza frequently cross-dresses for safety, and spends a good bit of time as a piano player for a traveling brothel. The madam, who calls herself 'Joe Bonecrusher', and the girls assume Eliza is a young gay man - and being an odd crew of misfits themselves are totally cool with that. Tao explores the developing Chinatown area of San Francisco and becomes concerned for the "singsong girls", young sex slaves who are getting imported and worked to death within a few years of their arrival. Meanwhile, Rose and her other brother, the rakish sailor John, are worried sick about Eliza. John takes a job as a steamboat captain to California, in the hopes of finding her.

 

1. Foreshadowing!  

 

Adaptation issues: This book has so many wonderful, well-rounded characters, and is also a fascinating view into the (not necessarily harmonious) multi-cultural stew that was California in the mid 1800s. Therefore, as with 'The Windup Girl', it would be important to cast actors of the correct ethnicities, and to do enough background research to ensure those cultures are portrayed correctly.

     The backstory and 'screentime' for some of the secondary characters might need to be cut in the interest of streamlined storytelling. That also includes Tao's early medical training and one of my other favorites: Rose Sommers. It seems that in her youth, Rose had a scandalous affair with an opera singer - which is why she and Jeremy now live in Chile (where no one knows that gossip) rather than Britain. Ever since, she has channeled her memories and feelings into writing erotica, which John helps her sell, leaving the prim and proper Jeremy none the wiser.

*Spoilers below*

      This book ends on Eliza going to see the preserved head of a bandit she thinks might have been her lost sweetheart. However, she stopped loving Joaquin some time ago, and isn't even totally sure she remembers what he looked like. So when Tao asks "Was it him?" she just replies "I am free", and takes his hand.  That is all we see here, but it is revealed in the sequel, 'A portrait in sepia', that Eliza and Tao get semi-unofficially married (interracial marriages are illegal, but they have a Chinese ceremony), and live together in Chinatown with their two kids: 'Lucky' (who is) and Lynn (who really isn't). Eliza opens a teahouse that serves English tea and Chilean pastries, while Tao continues his medical career. Their attempts to help the singsong girls bring them into conflict with the local gangsters. That is all another story, but it does mean that one could feel safe playing up the budding romance between Tao and Eliza more than is obvious in this book alone.

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