Candlelight Bridge
Cara Lopez Lee
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In this stirring family saga set primarily in El Paso during the early 20th century, a multicultural family overcomes prejudice and adversity, but still struggles to remain intact.
At the novel's onset, Candelaria Rivera is a young girl and her family is leaving their hometown to avoid El Lleva. The Mexican Revolution is afoot, and both rebels and federales are drafting into their ranks unwilling men: her father could be a target. They want to cross into El Paso, but by chance meet another traveler, Benito Chung. They aid one another, and Candelaria's sister even saves Benito's life when sinophobic Villistas target him for being of Chinese ancestry and try to set him on fire. Far across the Pacific, around the same time, a young man named Yan Chi Wong leaves his small town in Toisan, China, and dreams big of success in America after his engagement ended in a violent tragedy. A perilous sea journey and then a period of captivity on an island, subject to interrogation by immigration, gives him a taste of the adversity he will yet face in America or "Gold Mountain.". He helps another immigrant along the way, Lee Hoi Sam, and then the two of them make their way to El Paso and set up a restaurant. Candelaria, now a teenager, works at the restaurant owned by Yan Chi, called "Yankee" by most. One of her brothers was shot and killed during El Leva, and another left to join the rebels. Her father is unable to work, and Yankee—enamored with Candelaria—can see the family struggling. He proposes to marry Candelaria, and her father begrudgingly accepts. The young couple, though, rush to conceive a baby so they can get married even quicker. Their passion, though, does not translate to a happy marriage. They have several children, but Yankee gets caught up in some risky border businesses that are not legal. In response to the Chinese Exclusion Act, he starts to help clandestinely smuggle Chinese immigrants into the country. Candelaria's older brother returns and gets caught up in transporting alcohol into the US at the height of Prohibition. Despite living in a majority Hispanic corner of Texas, the menacing shadow of Juan Crow laws and bigotry touches all their daily lives. |
Lopez Lee does a brilliant job of shining light on sinophobic prejudices in the Latinx community, and also provides an insight into customs and traditions from both worlds. The novel is peppered with both Mexican Spanish phrases and Cantonese slang. The stunted relationship between Candelaria and Yankee is also plausible in a more conservative, religious time when divorce laws had not yet been passed.
Candeleria's only respite from the womanizing and alcoholic Yankee are her children and her friendship with Marcela, the daughter of Benito Chung. At least until the end of the novel, when a breathtaking and unexpected opportunity presents itself.
Candlelight Bridge is a publication by Flowersong Press.
Candeleria's only respite from the womanizing and alcoholic Yankee are her children and her friendship with Marcela, the daughter of Benito Chung. At least until the end of the novel, when a breathtaking and unexpected opportunity presents itself.
Candlelight Bridge is a publication by Flowersong Press.
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