Excerpt from China Dolls by Lisa See, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The boys stood and brushed the sand off themselves. When they held out their palms, I paid them their promised nickels. Once they scampered off, I turned to Helen.

"Where to?"

HELEN
Calling to the Heavens

"This way," I answered, but what in the world was I thinking— skipping work, walking through Chinatown unescorted, and talking to a total stranger?

My pace was brisk, and I felt the girl wordlessly tagging along behind me as I wove down Grant. She caught up at a red light. "My name's Grace," she said.

"Nice to meet you."

"Thanks so much for helping me," she went on, trying to appear composed, I thought, but actually sounding as scared as a fawn panting in fear at the sight of the moon.

"It's nothing," I responded, but it was everything. This morning, my brother Monroe had walked me to the door of the Chinese Telephone Exchange, where I worked. After he left me, I'd simply stood there, unable to bring myself to enter the building. I couldn't face another day of listening to the other women talk between calls about what they were going to make for dinner that night for their husbands, how clever their children were, or how hard it was to make ends meet. Those women just weren't pleasant to me. I understood, I suppose. I earned the same five dollars a week they earned and gave every dime to my father for my "upkeep," but everyone knew my family was one of the best and most important in Chinatown.

So there I'd been, outside the telephone exchange, daydreaming about how the thousands of women— wives and concubines— in Chi- na's imperial court had once spent their entire lives hidden inside the walls of the palace with no family or friends to love them. To amuse themselves, the women used to catch crickets and keep them in cages near their pillows. The crickets' songs— haunting, calling to the heavens of their loneliness— told not only of their own lives but also of the women who were cared for, but equally helpless, in the cage of the palace. I lived in a traditional Chinese compound right in the heart of Chinatown, with twenty- nine of my closest relatives. A sense of futility had nearly overwhelmed me as I realized my life wasn't all that different from those of the crickets who belonged to the women, who, in turn, belonged to the emperor. Right then, I'd noticed the girl in the street, talking to those silly boys. She looked as lost and lonely as I felt. She wasn't fresh off the boat from China, but she was new to town, of that I was certain— a country bumpkin in her tatty storebought dress. I'd edged to the intersection. As I'd listened to her conversation with the boys . . . I don't know . . . I felt compelled to help her.

Once Grace and I were clearly out of Chinatown, my spirits lifted. No one from the neighborhood was watching me, hoping to curry favor with my father by reporting on my actions. We crossed the street, turned right on Sutter, and continued until we reached a sign that read forbidden city auditions. no experience needed. Music wafted down the stairs, enveloping us right on the street.

"Here it is," I said.

"Come with me. Try out with me."

I shook my head. "I can't. I've never had a dance lesson."

"It says no experience needed. We'll stick together. I promise."

Before I could protest further, Grace took my hand. I never would have expected that from a Chinese girl. I shivered. Didn't she know it was rude to touch like that? I guess not, because she gave me an encouraging smile and pulled me up the stairs. I had leapt so far out of my cage— out of myself— that I followed Grace like I was the one who was lost and she was now leading the way. Or maybe she was desperate and afraid to go in alone.

Excerpted from China Dolls by Lisa See. Copyright © 2014 by Lisa See. Excerpted by permission of Random House. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.