The Celestials: A Novel

In June of 1870, seventy-five Chinese laborers arrived in North Adams, Massachusetts, to work for Calvin Sampson, one of the biggest industrialists in that busy factory town. Except for the foreman, the Chinese didn t speak English. They didn t know they were strikebreakers. The eldest of them was twenty-two. Combining historical and fictional elements, The Celestials beautifully reimagines the story of Sampson s Chinese experiment and the effect of the newcomers threatening and exotic presence on the New England locals. When Sampson s wife, Julia, gives birth to a mixed-race baby, the infant becomes a lightning rod for the novel s conflicts concerning identity, alienation, and exile.