The Spy Lover

Thrust into the savagery of the Civil War, a Chinese immigrant serving in the Union
Army, a nurse doubling as a spy for the North, and a one-armed Confederate cavalryman find
their lives inextricably entwined.

Fleeing drought and famine in China, Johnny Tom arrives in America with dreams of
becoming a citizen. Having survived vigilantes hunting yellow dogs and slave auction- blocks, Johnny is kidnapped from his Mississippi village by Confederate soldiers, taken
from his wife and daughter, and forced to fight for the South. Eventually defecting to the
Union side, he is promised American citizenship in exchange for his loyal services. But
first Johnny must survive the butchery of battles and the cruelties inflicted on non-white
soldiers.

Desperate to find Johnny, his daughter, Era, is enlisted as a spy. She agrees to work
as a nurse at Confederate camps while scouting for the North. Amidst the unspeakable
carnage of wounded soldiers, she finds solace in Warren Petticomb, a cavalryman who lost
an arm at Shiloh. As devastation mounts in both armies, Era must choose where her
loyalties lie-with her beloved father in the North, or with the man who passionately
sustains her in the South.

A novel of extraordinary scope that will stand as a defining work on the Chinese
immigrant experience, The Spy Lover is a paean to the transcendence of love and the
resilience of the human spirit.