The Girl Who Wrote in Silk

In the present, Inara Erickson and her sister Olivia arrive on Orcas Island to inspect Rothesay—the estate left to Inara by her late great-great-aunt Dahlia. Inara loved the island as a child, but has avoided returning since her teen years because of her mother’s death in a car accident. Inara’s mother and Dahlia are both descendants of shipping magnate Duncan Campbell. 

Inara and Olivia inspect the grounds as Inara considers her new job at Starbucks, her past on the island, and her aunt’s wishes to transform Rothesay into a bed and breakfast. In Dahlia’s small house next to the grand house of the estate, Inara suggests to Olivia that she could stay there and might enjoy it. 

After Olivia trips on a loose strip of carpet on the stairs, Inara pulls it up, discovering a package within the stairs. The packet contains an elaborately embroidered silk sleeve in an Asian art style.

On the morning of February 7, 1886, Mei Lien wakes to the sound of shouting outside of the house she shares with her father and grandmother. She dresses in traditional men’s clothing and prepares to do her morning chores when she hears more disruption outside. She sees white men herding the people of her neighborhood down the street. 

Her father tells her to go get her grandmother and stay away from the doors and windows—the white men have come to force the Chinese people of Seattle to board a ship back to China. After she helps her grandmother dress, she hears a crash downstairs and discovers two men standing over her father. He tells her to gather their things and bring her grandmother, begging the men not to hurt them. 

The family files out into the street with many other residents. Mei Lien must carry her grandmother, who can’t walk after years of foot binding. When they try to escape, they are followed and her father is beaten. They hear a gunshot. Mei Lien sees the body of a young man she knows lying in the street.

Inara hears the sound of a car outside and goes to check on the big house. She meets Dahlia’s neighbor, Tom Gardner, who’s been maintaining the grounds since Dahlia’s death. He tells her he’s a contractor. They agree to meet later to discuss renovations on the estate to turn it into a boutique hotel. 

The next morning, Inara begins to plan the hotel and attempts to research the silk sleeve she found the day before. She finds the name of a professor at her alma mater, who wrote a paper on Chinese symbolism. She writes him an email with a photo of the fabric.

Inara returns home and pitches her hotel idea to her father. He’s initially furious that she wants to turn down the job he helped her get at Starbucks. She mentions her mother and how her mother would want the estate to stay in the family. He agrees to a personal loan that he can oversee and recall at any time.

Mei Lien and her family are forced to pay for first-class tickets on the steamer because steerage is full. She settles her grandmother and goes in search of food because the sailors won’t speak to her. After they eat, her father falls asleep, and Mei Lien goes in search of medical help for his injuries. 

After being rejected by two crewmen, she approaches the pilot house but stops when she overhears men talking. The ship’s owner, a Scotsman, instructs the captain to throw the Chinese passengers into the ocean, where their bodies won’t wash up on shore. Horrified, Mei Lien tries to reject what she’s heard. However, she knows of multiple occasions when Chinese people were murdered by white men resentful of their presence in the US. 

She hurries back to their cabin and tells her father. He gathers all their money, tells her to hide the money in her binding cloth, and that she must jump from the ship and swim to the nearby island—it’s the only possibility for her survival. She tries to resist, but he hugs her tightly, blesses her, and pushes her overboard.

Inara makes her way back to the island a few days later. She takes a detour to follow up with the professor about the silk sleeve. Dr. Daniel Chin is not in his office; he is giving a lecture on Modern Chinese History. Inara goes to the auditorium and listens to the last few minutes of his lecture. Daniel is handsome and well-liked by his many students, especially by the young women. Inara introduces herself and tells him she has the sleeve with her. He’s late for a meeting, but eagerly agrees to examine it.

In his office, he is warm and welcoming—Inara thinks maybe even flirtatious. He examines the silk and asks if he can hold onto it for further research, as it doesn’t follow any story or design he’s familiar with, but is clearly Chinese in origin. Inara agrees to let him explore its origin. 

Inara arrives on the island later that night. She’s awed by the beauty and surprised at how safe she feels, even largely isolated in the dark. She goes to bed, excited to begin renovation plans with Tom in the morning. She has a fleeting thought of Daniel before falling asleep.

Mei Lien wakes up, two days after going into the ocean. She is in a cabin on a straw mattress. She was rescued from drowning by Joseph McElroy, the owner of the cabin. He brings her coffee and food, treating her respectfully and kindly. She realizes she’s wearing an unfamiliar shirt and asks for her clothes, which he gives her, including her father’s coin purse. 

She stays for a week, slowly starting to trust Joseph and developing romantic feelings for him. She can’t bring herself to tell him about her family or Seattle, but they work together on building his new home. She stays hidden from the rest of the island’s population while she tries to work out what to do next. Every night, Mei Lien goes to the edge of the water and thinks of her father and grandmother.

One night, Joseph’s neighbor, Duncan Campbell, comes to ask for his help with plowing his field. Mei Lien hides in the back room and recognizes Campbell’s voice as the owner of the ship, who ordered the deaths of her father and grandmother. 

After Joseph leads Campbell away, Mei Lien sneaks out of the house and runs to the water. She believes she’s made a mistake trusting Joseph. She walks into the water, intending to die and join her family. Joseph pulls her out and demands to know what she was doing. She tells him that Campbell was the owner of the steamer. He asks if Campbell hurt her, and she nods, but doesn’t tell him how. His kindness inspires her to trust him again, and they return to the cabin together.