GOLDSEA | ASIAN BOOKVIEW | NONFICTION

n Gold Mountain opens with the trans-Pacific voyage of the author's great great grandfather, an herbalist who came to Sacramento to cater to Chinese laborers laying railroad track. His son Fong See married a white woman and built a much-envied fortune selling curios to white tourists. With each generation the Sees' Chinese bloodline has grown thinner but not their Chinese self-image. Lisa See, a journalist, interviewed dozens of relatives for musty details, then augments them liberally with her novelistic imagination to bring each generation to life. A thoroughly engrossing read.