The Girls Of Good Fortune is a chilling story about strength, perseverance, and the need to know the past in order for history to not repeat itself. 💫💫💫💫💫

"Knowledge changes destiny"

Celia Hart is half-chinese, but white passing. She works for a prominent family, falls in love with their son, and gets pregnant. When the family learns all this, they send her off to a brothel to work as a maid. Here, she finds a new family, strong women, and her own strength. During this time, there are important historically significant events against Chinese workers. Hells Canyon Massacre, The Chinese Exclusion Act, and Portland's Shanghai Tunnels.

Celia will learn the hard way that people with racist views who are selfish and greedy will always look to hurt her. The only thing that keeps her going through all the injustices is going back home to her little girl Pearl and one day reuniting with Stephen, the love of her life.

Thank you, Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark, for my arc. All opinions are entirely my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmarks for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published May 21, 2025.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author. I didn’t realize until reading the author’s note that she is a native Oregonian, just like me. I was drawn to this historical fiction due to the underground Shanghai Tunnels that run through downtown Portland. I learned a lot about history despite this being fiction.

Celia works as a maid for Portland’s mayor in 1885. She is half Chinese but tries her best to disguise her heritage. She falls in love with the mayor’s son but is then terminated and sent away. She learns first hand about the Hells Canyon massacre (also known as the Snake River massacre), where 34 Chinese goldminers were ambushed and murdered in May 1887. She tries to seek justice but she is imprisoned on a boat, put in jail and hops trains all in an attempt to find her daughter Pearl.

Themes include racism and discrimination, political corruption and injustice, courage and motherhood.

This is the type of historical fiction that just makes my heart soar. Celia is an inspiring character who will do anything to keep her daughter safe. Sadly, there are many people around her who will do anything to keep Celia quiet and out of the way. Yet Celia isn’t afraid to speak out when she knows that her father and his fellow workers were mindlessly murdered in cold blood. But speaking up comes with its own risks causing Celia to be shanghaied and taken far away from her precious daughter. This book is inspiring and beautifully written. I also love that it highlights a part of history that isn’t always focused on bringing awareness and inspiring readers to learn more about the Shanghai Tunnels, and the Chinese American’s plight.
Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Kristina McMorris’s The Girls of Good Fortune is a masterpiece of historical fiction that captures the essence of family, love, and the resilience of the human spirit. I was utterly engrossed by the vivid storytelling and the richly developed characters who felt incredibly real and relatable.

McMorris has an extraordinary talent for weaving intricate historical details with deeply emotional narratives, making the past come alive. The complex relationships and emotional depth add layers that kept me hooked, eager to uncover each twist and turn.

What truly stands out is how the novel explores the enduring strength of familial bonds amidst the backdrop of history. The themes of love and personal sacrifice resonate profoundly, making it not just a story but an experience.

This book would make a phenomenal book club pick, sparking thoughtful discussions about its historical context, character dynamics, and the moral dilemmas faced by its protagonists. I wholeheartedly give The Girls of Good Fortune five stars—an unforgettable read that lingers in your heart long after the final page.

Let’s say you’re looking for a fast paced, solid character driven novel based in the late 1800’s with multiple suspenseful webs woven throughout. Also, it needs a plot twist. It should have a resilient and strong female main character along with a few sidekicks. One whose journey (and it is a journey) must fight against social indiscretions and corruption.

Kristina McMorris has penned such a novel.

Celia, who is half Chinese, is determined to expose the injustice and blatant racism of two massacres involving immigrants of Chinese descent. One of which is personally important to her. In the meantime she’s also battling her own unfortunate circumstances as she experiences love and loss. Betrayals between loved ones and friends. Who can she trust? There is light at the end of the tunnel. All is not lost to those who persevere.

The way the book closed out was odd for me. It was wrapped up rather quickly and lacked the spark the rest of the book had.

The story just keeps flowing and the way the facts are woven into the prose intrigued me. I had not known of the Chinese immigrant massacres. I always say you learn something new every day.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this eARC to read and review.

Kristina McMorris has once again transported me back to a time in our country’s history that is so painful to read about. In the late 1800’s the anti-Chinese sentiments were reaching fever pitch, especially in the western part of the US. Celia, who is half Chinese but appears to be white, is working for a wealthy family and falls in love with their oldest son, Stephen and .of course we can all anticipate what happens next as he goes to England for college and Celia is given to a brothel to serve as a maid. She actually finds a “family” there for she and her beautiful daughter, Pearl.
So much history is woven throughout this moving story, including the Shanghai tunnels and several massacres of Chinese workers, that truly depicted the turmoil, especially for Chinese immigrants. Celia is caught up in trafficking and struggles to return to Pearl, never giving up on her love for Stephen. The ordeals she faced made me shiver, especially knowing that her ordeals were faced by poor innocent victims.
Kristina McMorris truly has a gift for including history woven within the threads of her stories that truly place the reader in the heart of the time frame trying to decide what you would do.
Many many thanks to Kristina McMorris who made me feel so much empathy for our ancestors who actually lived through this time period, as well as opening my eyes to events that actually happened, Sourcebook Landmark, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc this engrossing historical fiction portrayal of a time period that seems to have been forgotten. To be published on May 20th.

Set in Portland, Oregon in 1885 and 1888 and ending with an epilogue in 1995, this novel weaves into its narrative a little-known piece of history. Thirty Chinese gold miners were brutally murdered in Oregon and "no one was held accountable", even though it went to trial. It was labeled the Hells Canyon Massacre. This story was eye opening and often read like an action-adventure novel.

The MC, Celia, is a very capricious character. Her plans are somewhat ludicrous, as well as extremely dangerous. This story is about resilience, bravery, friendship, trust, honesty, and the search to find answers. Along the way, Celia learns about herself and others, and her link to her family's heritage.

I didn't like this book as much as I liked this author's previous book, "The Ways We Hide", but it was still an enjoyable read. Fans of historical fiction are sure to enjoy this well researched and interesting novel.

My sincere thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

THE GIRLS OF GOOD FORTUNE is the latest historical novel by Kristina McMorris. It is a gripping and heartbreaking story of love, family, motherhood and identity that sheds light on tragic events in Portland, Oregon’s history. Set in the late 1880’s when anti-Chinese sentiment is running high, we learn the story of Celia Hart, a young half Chinese woman who is working for the prominent family of the Mayor of Portland, passing as white. She and the mayor’s son, Stephen, fall in love, but when the family learns she is pregnant with his child, Stephen is banished to England for schooling and Celia is fired and sent to live as a cleaner at a brothel. In the prologue, Celia finds herself drugged and disguised, trapped in a notorious tunnel system beneath Portland’s Chinatown. Not long afterward she is “shanghaied” into forced labor aboard a sailing vessel bound for the Pacific. Celia must use every one of her survival skills if she is to escape and return to her beloved daughter, Pearl. Secrets, lies, and betrayals are revealed as Celia attempts to make her way home. As part of Celia’s story, the reader learns of the Hells Canyon Massacre and the Rock Springs Massacre, two horrendous events that I had never heard about. This was a meticulously-researched and well-written book. Also, don’t miss the very interesting and informative Author’s Note at the end. I enjoyed this captivating book and thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this one. The description of this one piqued my interest from the very beginning. The naïveté of the main character made the story feel more like a young adult coming of age story than straight historical fiction - enough so, that I went back to check if it was adult or YA. The pacing of the story is well done and the supporting characters are well formed. The history at the heart of the story was less familiar, but I wish that it had stayed historical. Towards the end, there was a character in the late 1880's acting like he was living in the 1980's that just seemed "off" with the tone of the rest of the story. The ending wrapped up very tidily, so if you appreciate all of your threads being tied up, this one is for you.

I work for BookBrowse.com and requested this book so I could moderate a discussion of it with our members. I didn't read it for review, so I'm not giving it the full treatment here.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book very much. It was just all too improbable. It had its moments - I particularly liked the historical fiction aspect of it - but I didn't feel it was tied together well at all. I thought the writing was good, as was the character development, but the story just really missed the mark, in my opinion.

This historical fiction is very engaging and emotional. It takes place starting in 1885 and follows the happening in the life of a half Chinese woman passing as white, who has entered into a relationship with the son at the house she is working at. When he leaves for school, fully intending and promising Celia that he will come back and they will be married.

Celia doesn't exactly have the best of luck and what little luck she has turns on her. She discovers herself shanghaied and desperate to get back to her former life, even if it isn't what she had planned.

The book delves into how the Chinese workers were treated and the dangers they faced just because of their heritage. It kept me reading and not wanting to put it down. McMorris definitely knows how to tell a good story.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the digital copy. All thoughts are my own.

At the beginning of this novel, Celia wakes up in an underground tunnel and realizes that she has been shanghaied and is on the verge of being shipped off as forced labor. It wouldn't be safe for her to work on a ship as a female so she changes her appearance so that she appears to be a young male. She tries to escape knowing that she will be leaving everyone she loves behind - especially her young daughter. She has spent her life trying to adapt to society of that time - even though she is half Chinese, she has spent her entire life passing as white. As she lays in the tunnel and tries to figure out how to escape, she thinks about her previous life as a maid for a rich family who fell in love with their rich son. When the parents found out that their son was the father of her baby, she was sent to a brothel to work as a housekeeper. One of her main goals was to find out more about the massacre where dozens of Chinese workers were murdered in nearby town -- one of those killed was her father. Her life had been full of trouble but she was determined that her daughter's life would be better. She was a strong woman who had to rely on her strength to make a better life.

This book was the story of resilience and hope and explores racism and family. It looks at the power of women as they find out how strong they are as they try to make changes in their world. If you enjoy historical fiction, this is a book that you don't want to miss.

As with other books by this author, her research was apparent as she brought a subject to light that many people are not aware of. I learned a lot about racism against the Chinese in this book and spent time after I read it goggling to get more information. I was not aware of the racism that existed against the Chinese during this time period. Large numbers of Chinese came to the West Coast in the late 1800s to mine and to help on the constriction of the railroads. Chinese workers would work for less money so white Americans felt that their jobs were being stolen by the Chinese workers. Plus it was widely believed that the Chinese were an inferior race. It wasn't until 1927 that Chinese people were allowed to vote in Oregon.

The Girls of Good Fortune immediately pulled me in as it started off with a young woman trapped in the tunnels underneath Portland. The story then jumped back three years to 1885, where we meet Celia Hart, a half-Chinese nanny working for the mayor's family. Because of the intense discrimination and violence Chinese immigrants faced at the time, Celia hides her background as best she can. After she’s suddenly sent away by the mayor and his wife, we follow her through the years and see how her path eventually leads to that moment in the tunnels.

I really liked the brief glimpses of 1888 and her time underground sprinkled throughout the first half of the book—it added just enough mystery and tension to keep me hooked. Things did slow down a bit once the timeline caught up to 1888, but I was still fully invested in Celia’s journey and couldn’t wait to see how her story would end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy of the book!

This is a story set in Portland in the 1880s. Celia is a white-passing, half-Chinese young woman working as a nanny for the mayor's daughter. When she finds herself pregnant, she is forced to leave and survive on her own. As with most historical fiction books, I learned a lot - this time about the Shanghai tunnels of Portland and the Chinese Massacre at Deep Creek. However, I didn't love the writing, and I often found myself skimming through sections.

I love when I learn new things while reading historical fiction! When I'm pausing my reading to go on and read up more on the historical event I just read about. This book has it all and I was sad when I finished. I will be rereading it again and probably buying a paperback when it's available. I will be telling everyone to read this and read it now!

A Great historical fiction novel. 4 solid stars. Just a really good, entertaining story, with some small details preventing me from rating it 5. I absolutely loved learning about this period of time in history, even if it is an absolutely tragic recollection of how the Chinese were persecuted and victims of racism. It’s books like this that force readers to look outside their immediate world and ask, “how can we do better—be better? How can I be impactful?”

Packed with an array of champions and scoundrels, it appeals to the reader who is looking for a little-known series of crimes and abominations. It’s a quick read with a predictable, albeit, satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to author, Kristina McMorris; publisher, Sourcebooks; and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. It is due to be published on May 20th, 2025 (tomorrow!! 🫶🏼)

Poetic And Compelling. Usually, if a book uses a lot of flowery language and descriptions, it tends to bog the book down quite heavily. Here, McMorris actually manages to flip that script and use such poetic prose to *lift* material that is otherwise quite heavy indeed.

The entire book is essentially about the perils faced by both Chinese immigrants and indeed poor people generally on the US West Coast at the nadir of the 19th century, and McMorris does a wonderful job of transporting the reader to that place and time throughout the book.

The dual timeline yet single character approach is rare and useful here in creating tension in the reader, and yes, the timelines do eventually converge.

Overall a rare look at an often glossed over or even outright ignored period of American history, and McMorris manages to pluck it out of relative obscurity and tell a powerful tale set in all of that era's realities - both good and bad.

Very much recommended.

This was such a compelling read set in late 19th-century Portland, part historical fiction, part survival thriller, with a strong emotional core. The story follows Celia, a woman who wakes up drugged and imprisoned in Portland’s Shanghai Tunnels. From there, we dive into a layered narrative that weaves through her past, her mixed heritage, and the tangled web of injustice that led to her abduction.

Celia is a beautifully written character: resilient, resourceful, and constantly navigating the tension of passing in a society that refuses to accept her full identity. The historical detail is rich (I definitely Googled the Shanghai Tunnels mid-read), and the themes of identity, belonging, and survival are handled with nuance. I especially appreciated how the novel doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of anti-Chinese sentiment in 1888 Oregon, while still offering moments of light and hope.

The pacing was a bit uneven at times, which is why this is a solid 4-star read for me, but honestly, I was invested from the very first page and flew through the last few chapters.

THE GIRLS OF GOOD FORTUNE is the second book by author Kristina McMorris that I have reviewed. The first, SOLD ON A MONDAY, was similar to this newest, in that it took a piece of history and wove a tale filled with angst and hope around it. In this newest, Celia, our protagonist, is a biracial woman who appears white, while having a Chinese father in Portland, 1880’s. She often finds herself in situations where blatant Chinese racism is shared with her, under the mistaken belief that she will approve of it. She works as a housemaid in the Mayor’s home and as luck would have it, falls in love with the only son. This early portion of the book is written with pathos and detail; it sets up the classic trope of the hired help and the wealthy offspring having an illicit love affair. When the son leaves for a 4 year European education, continuous bad luck surrounds Celia’s life. Because, she is pregnant and quite alone.

The second portion of the book makes almost no sense for the character we met in the beginning. Now Celia is working in a brothel and learns details about the horrible Chinese Massacre in Rock Springs, Wyoming that results in the death of her father. She crusades for justice and finds herself a target/participant in all manner of hijinks specific to tales of the 1880’s. She is kidnapped, hops trains, jumps off a ship, and testifies in a court case. All while separated from her beloved child.

The ending returns to the romantic beginnings and the tale is swiftly concluded. The author writes in a good chapter connecting readers to Celia’s family in present time.

But I found the book frustrating; either one of the Celias would have been engaging: the frightened, isolated single mother or the swashbuckler determined to hold those responsible for the Massacre accountable. Spun into one book, the result was a discontinuous tale: entertaining but disconcerting. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Celia works as a maid for the mayor in Portland, but has plans for a much better life for herself. She is in love with the mayor's son, Stephen, and he plans to marry her when he comes back from earning his medical degree. Shortly after he sets sail however, she discovers she is pregnant with Stephen's baby. Celia implores the mayor & his wife to contact Stephen to let him know, but instead, they terminate her employment and send her to a brothel to work as a maid. Celia - being half-Chinese, passing as white during an era fraught with anti-Chinese sentiment - discovers that her father is killed in a goldminers massacre, and vows to get revenge. However, in the process of trying to obtain information, Celia gets "shanghaied" . She awakens in an underground cell, drugged and disguised, in the subterranean labyrinth of the notorious Shanghai Tunnels. Celia realizes she is on the verge of being shipped off as forced labor, leaving behind those she loves most. Desperate, she must find a way to escape and return to a place where unearthed secrets can prove deadlier than the dark recesses of Chinatown.

I always enjoy this author's books. She does an excellent job writing historical fiction and making the past come to life. I was unaware of the Shanghai Tunnels and the Chinese massacres, as well as the Chinese Exclusion Act and all of the anti-Chinese sentiment that went on during that time period. I did some additional digging on the subject, and if you exchanged Latinos for Chinese, then it is very similar to what is going on today. History does have a way of coming full circle. This book was so fascinating, and the characters so real that I did not want to put the book down. I felt like I was there, watching it all unfold. As horrifying as all of this was to read about, the book itself was wonderful, and if you love historical fiction, then you will want to put this at the top of your TBR pile!