Thousand pieces of gold cover

Thousand pieces of gold

by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

Publisher description: Thousand Pieces of Gold tells the fascinating story of Lalu Nathoy, later known as Polly Bemis. Born in China in the mid 1800's, Lalu was raised in a peasant village ravaged by poverty and drought. At an early age she was snatched from her family by bandits, shipped to America as a slave, and auctioned off to a Chinese saloon keeper in an Idaho mining camp. There, having gained her freedom through a poker game, her indomitable spirit took her from running her own boarding house to homesteading twenty acres on the River of No Return. Today, almost fifty years after her death, stories of her courage and acts of kindness live on. The first biography of a Chinese American pioneer woman, Thousand Pieces of Gold is an important contribution to the literature by and about minority women as well as an intriguing account of an unforgettable character.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?