THE SERPENT'S CHILDREN

Why did those nineteenth-century Chinese villagers cross perilous seas to endure shame and hardship in California? Cassia and her family show us why. With her mother dead and her father off fighting the demons who invaded China with their opium, this teenager and her brother must fend off starvation, slavery, and possibly prostitution. But their mother has told them that they are children of the serpent, and children of the serpent never give up. Alyssa Bresnahan compellingly relates Cassia's struggle. Her voice is intense with drama and mystery, urging the reader through the primitive, poverty-stricken world of the past to the deceptively attractive "golden mountain" that her brother has found in California. The worlds are far apart in time and custom, but Bresnahan helps us bridge them. P.E.F. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 99]