Pg. 69: Karen Shepard's "The Celestials"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Celestials by Karen Shepard.

About the book, from the publisher:

In June of 1870, seventy-five Chinese laborers arrived in North Adams, Massachusetts, to work for Calvin Sampson, one of the biggest industrialists in that busy factory town. Except for the foreman, the Chinese didn’t speak English. They didn’t know they were strikebreakers. The eldest of them was twenty-two.

Combining historical and fictional elements, The Celestials beautifully reimagines the story of Sampson’s “Chinese experiment” and the effect of the newcomers’ threatening and exotic presence on the New England locals. When Sampson’s wife, Julia, gives birth to a mixed-race baby, the infant becomes a lightning rod for the novel’s conflicts concerning identity, alienation, and exile.

Learn more about the book and author at Karen Shepard's website.

Writers Read: Karen Shepard.

The Page 69 Test: The Celestials.

--Marshal Zeringue