Books like Thousand pieces of gold by Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Thousand Pieces of Gold traces the life of Lalu Nathoy, later known as Polly Bemis, from her birth in mid‑1800s China to her early abduction by bandits and shipment to America as a slave. She became a slave in an Idaho mining camp saloon, won her freedom in a poker game, and went on to run her own boarding house and homestead twenty acres on the River of No Return. About fifty years after her death, her legacy of courage and kindness continues to inspire.
First publish date: 1981
Genre: Historical Fiction/19th Century Historical Fiction
Authors: Ruthanne Lum McCunn
★
★
★
★
★
0.0 (0 community ratings)
How are these books recommended?
The books recommended for Thousand pieces of gold by Ruthanne Lum McCunn are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.
Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier
for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.
Books similar to Thousand pieces of gold (17 similar books)
A sweeping coming‑of‑age story set on Nebraska’s prairie, following Jim Burden’s journey with his grandparents amid immigrant families, especially the Czech Shimerdas, and his complex love and friendship with Antonia.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In nineteenth‑century China, Lily, a humble farmer’s daughter, discovers her feet will be unbindable—good fortune for her marriage—and meets Snow Flower, an educated classmate, whose nu shu letters deepen a secret friendship that endures the hardships of feudal life.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In war‑torn 1937 Shanghai, sisters Pearl and May Beware find their lives turned upside down when their father’s debts force them into marriage and migration to Los Angeles, where they confront love, identity, and the clash between old traditions and new freedoms.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
The Woman Warrior is Maxine Hong Kingston’s lyrical memoir of her Chinese‑American upbringing in California, juxtaposing her mother’s folk tales of fierce women with the everyday sexism she faces.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Eighty‑year‑old LuLing recalls her childhood in rural China while her daughter Ruth, a San Francisco ghostwriter, discovers the story of their family’s past and the secrets of a mute nursemaid tied to an ancient curse.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In 1963 Kuckachoo, Mississippi, a young girl named Addie Ann Pickett confronts injustice when her brother disappears during a civil rights struggle. Amid family hardship and a community‑wide garden‑picking event, she rises to lead a march for change.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Charlie Wong, a 22‑year‑old New York Chinatown resident, balances family obligations with a passion for ballroom dancing.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A half-Chinese orphan is raffled off at Seattle's 1909 World's Fair and ends up in the hands of a brothel madam, where he discovers friendship and new chances in a true‑story drama set in early 20th‑century Seattle.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In the early 19th‑century New England frontier, Hannah Bonner battles war, loss, and her own past as she aids her kin and faces the War of 1812 in a story of survival, healing, and love.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A young woman uncovers a stitched fabric in her aunt’s estate, revealing the century‑old story of Mei Lien and a difficult truth about her family.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A Chinese mother and her adopted daughter, raised by an American couple, discover how a rare native tea links their worlds and transforms their family's destiny across cultures.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In 1874, May Dodd leaves her aristocratic life behind and joins a secret program that sends women to become brides of Cheyenne warriors, navigating love and identity across two worlds.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A Chinese American woman discovers her father's hidden life as a CIA mole, uncovering family secrets that force her to confront loyalty, love, and the legacy of espionage across China and the United States.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Saadia Faruqi’s children’s fiction, Thousand Questions, follows young friends as they navigate family life, single‑parent households, and cultural ties between the United States and the Middle East.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Some Other Similar Books
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung ChangHave a similar book in mind? Let others know!
Please login to submit books!