One Hundred Girls' Mother

Inspired by the life of a real Scots-Presbyterian missionary, Carroll's touching debut brings fin-de-siecle San Francisco's Chinatown vibrantly to life. Lovely, naive Thomasina McIntyre never conquers her frail health as she matures into a capable director of the Presbyterian Occidental Mission organized to save Chinese women from prostitution and the slave trade. Thomasina struggles against racism, oppressive legislation, city corruption and her own lack of knowledge of the women's culture--all with a strong Christian faith and dogged endurance. Loved by four men, she marries none (though not for lack of desire); her children are the women she rescues from prostitution (she is called Lo Mo, the mother of 100 girls). Carroll is sometimes heavy-handed with background exposition, and readers may wonder about several plot developments (especially why Thomasina's trusted attorney deserts her to work for the enemy in the middle of a heated court battle), but she does capture the pain of sexual self-abnegation and the uncertainty that haunts the steps of generous but ordinary people. Her skillful interweaving of the era's social and historical events adds color and depth to an uplifting story. (Sept.)