China Dolls tells the story of three young women who meet at an audition: the talented Grace, the traditional Helen and the defiant Ruby in the 1940s. Each has a secret.
Grace Lee, a Chinese American girl, the youngest of the three, has fled her home because her father is abusive. Grace has dreams of being famous.
Helen Fong, a Chinese American young woman, is from a conservative Chinese family where only sons are important. She is the only daughter among seven sons.
Ruby Tom, a Japanese American young woman (real name Kimiko Fukutomi) has just come from Hawaii to stay with her aunt and uncle. She’s pretending to be Chinese in order to work in a club in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
The three woman become friends, while Helen lives at home with her family, Grace and Ruby live together in an apartment Helen found for them. Initially Grace dates one of Helen’s brothers, Monroe (they’re all named for presidents), but she’s not in love with him and he wants a more traditional wife. Grace does fall in love with a young white chap called Joe Mitchell, who takes her out to the cinema, and meals – but never gives her any sign he is in love with her as well. When she gets home early one evening, Grace finds Joe and Ruby in bed together. Grace packs her things and flees to Los Angeles.
Grace does not find any showbiz jobs in LA and is struggling to get by. Helen, meanwhile misses her friend, partners up with heart throb Eddie Wu when he is hired to dance in Los Angeles. She decides to find Grace while there. Helen and Grace reunite and the three dancers create an act for all three of them. They are successful for a while, but when the interest fades Helen and Grace find other jobs. Helen goes on a date with Tim, a white bloke, their manager and after they sleep together, the girls leave the job. After a few weeks, Helen finds out she’s pregnant – and Tim can’t marry her (even if he wanted to) because it is against the law. Eddie, who is gay, marries Helen to give her child a name.
The trio return to San Francisco when the owner of the dance hall they used to perform in asks them to come back. Ruby is now the headliner as Princess Tai, she has all the fame Grace craves. Ruby feels like she’s beaten Grace. Then when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor things become terrible for the Japanese Americans. Ruby manages to stay hidden in plain sight for a long while, but she is sent to an internment camp. Everyone thinks that Grace has betrayed her friend because she benefits from Ruby being out of the picture…
I did enjoy this book. It wasn’t as good as the other books I’ve read by Lisa See, but it was worth reading!
Read for The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2025
Prompt 18: A Character Who Can Fly
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
