Paper Wife

A Novel

By: Laila Ibrahim

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of Yellow Crocus comes a heart-wrenching story about finding strength in a new world.

Southern China, 1923. Desperate to secure her future, Mei Ling’s parents arrange a marriage to a widower in California. To enter the country, she must pretend to be her husband’s first wife - a paper wife.

On the perilous voyage, Mei Ling takes an orphan girl named Siew under her wing. Dreams of a better life in America give Mei Ling the strength to endure the treacherous journey and detainment on Angel Island. But when she finally reaches San Francisco, she’s met with a surprise. Her husband, Chinn Kai Li, is a houseboy, not the successful merchant he led her to believe.

Mei Ling is penniless, pregnant, and bound to a man she doesn’t know. Her fragile marriage is tested further when she discovers that Siew will likely be forced into prostitution. Desperate to rescue Siew, she must convince her husband that an orphan’s life is worth fighting for. Can Mei Ling find a way to make a real family - even if it’s built on a paper foundation?

©2018 Laila Ibrahim. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

It sucked me right in...

OMG.....had me crying the very first chapter. I could not stop listening. What a beautiful and touching story. I felt like I was walking beside each character as the story unfolded. I rarely write reviews but I had to on this one. I felt so attached to the characters. I was sad when it ended. This is the type of book I will carry with me long after having finished it.

Best Historial Fiction of the Year!

This was my favorite book of the year. The beautifully written and descriptive language places you in rural China, Angel Island, and San Fransisco in the early 1900s. It is heart-wrenching, yet strong and hope filled. The US was a 3rd world country in many parts in the early 1900s and prejudice abounds. I especially enjoyed the voice of the reader. When the 'voice' of the American English was read, it is as indecipherable as it would have been for the new Chinese immigrant. It continued to put the listener in the heart and body of the immigrant. I have already begun to 'reread,' listen to this book with my husband because the writing is so beautiful. #HistorialFiction #Hearfelt #StrongWomen #GreatNarration #Educational #Tagsving #Sweepstakes

Wonderful story, superb narrator

This was my first book by this author, and I am so glad I purchased it. Nancy Wu was brilliant as the narrator; she brought Laila Ibrahim’s words to life. I didn’t have a lot of background knowledge about this time period for the Chinese immigration, so I found this story interesting. I plan to find out more, as I think it’s important to learn where we came from. I loved how the author weaved historically accurate facts throughout her story (the questioning on Angel Island, people memorizing facts, and people buying paperwork to bring family from China illegally) with some of the mysticism (ghosts, praying to ancestors, and leaving offerings). This was just a beautiful story that mixed both the traditional as well as the modern Chinese culture turn of the century Chinese-Americans faced.

great read

good narration. good story showing a woman' and a family's strength. . . . .

Good read

Well written, well narrated, and thoughtful. This was a good mix of history and entertainment. It's amazing to me what immigrants have had to deal with and how they've thrived. This story is a tribute to them.

Excellent intriguing

Well defined characters with depth. I felt and saw what each enconture. I highly recommend this novel

Brilliant!

The narration was great, and the storyline kept one listening. Mei Ling is my hero!

Loved it!

This was such a good book, I literally did not want it to end. Well written and researched, this novel tells of “wives,” and “daughters,” paid for and sent to the United States as “paper relatives” in the 1920’s.
The author has written an intriguing story of one such “paper wife.”
This book held my attention throughout. The storyline was most interesting. I loved all the characters and I learned a lot about the immigration history of our country, of which I knew nothing about.
I would highly recommend this book. I also heard the audible on this book when my eyes got tired reading, the reader was excellent. I really could picture the whole story like a play.

A winner

What a great book! Interesting story-based in fact. I enjoyed listening to this. Narrator was perfect.

Pleasantly surprised

I’ll be honest, I got this audiobook, because it was free on Kindle with audio and looked fairly interesting. I am happy to say that this book turned out to be much better than I had expected. The story was well done and enjoyable. I found myself thinking of it while not reading it- the mark of a good book to me. The narrator was a good fit. I had heard of Paper Wives before, but I always love books about lesser known parts of history.