In 1938, Ruby, Helen and Grace, three girls from very different backgrounds, find themselves competing at the same audition for showgirl roles at San Francisco's exclusive Oriental nightclub, the Forbidden City. Grace, an American-born Chinese girl has fled the Midwest and an abusive father. Helen is from a Chinese family who have deep roots in San Francisco's Chinatown. And, as both her friends know, Ruby is Japanese passing as Chinese. At times...

"What should by now be a familiar, if always disturbing event in American history--the internment of Japanese American citizens and aliens during World War II--is given an original treatment in this creative memoir. Lily Havey was ten years old when her family of four was uprooted and sent first to Santa Anita Assembly Center in southern California and subsequently for the duration of the war to the Amache (or Granada) internment camp in southeastern...

Introduces the first Asian American woman elected to Congress, who championed rights for women, children, immigrants and minorities, paving the way for many other women to succeed.