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

"All right then." He addressed me directly again. "I'll cover for you this one time. I'll see you back here at seven o'clock." He tucked his hands in his pants pockets and nodded at Grace. "Nice to meet you." With that, he pulled his shoulders up under his ears and sauntered back the way he'd come.

We found a telephone booth and looked up the address for a dance shop, then walked several blocks out of Chinatown until we found it. We made it just before closing time, but the clerk volunteered to stay late. Ruby and Grace helped me pick out navy satin shorts and a longsleeved white blouse to wear for the audition, as well as two pairs of dance shoes— one for regular dancing and the other for tap. Their eyes thinned into slits when I opened my wallet. Cash! I ignored them, saying, "I hope this won't be a waste of money."

"Don't worry about it." Ruby seemed sure of everything. "We've got two full days to teach you the basics."

. . .

I took them to a noodle shop on Grant that I promised was one of the best in Chinatown, but Grace looked as jittery as a wet mouse. "What should I get?" she asked.

"Pick your favorite. Remember, I'm buying."

Grace blinked. "What I mean is, I don't know what these things are. I've never eaten Chinese food."

"Where did you say you're from?" Ruby pried.

"I didn't say, but I'm from Plain City, Ohio," she answered, guarded.

"Is it one of those places that's too small to have a Chinese restaurant?" I inquired.

"Only about two thousand people live there, so I guess so," she replied.

"Cripes!" Ruby exclaimed.

I shook my head in disbelief. The population of San Francisco's Chinatown was ten times that, and the larger city surrounded it. "I've never been to a place where you couldn't get Chinese food." After a pause, I asked, "Didn't your mother make it?"

"No."

"That's shocking!"

Grace put her purse on the floor.

"My mother says you must never do that," Ruby chastised.

"Mine too," I agreed. "Do you want all your money to run out of your purse?"

Grace blushed and quickly set the purse back on her lap. "We don't have that custom in Plain City," she said. After an uncomfortable silence, she added, "You haven't told us anything about you yet, Helen."

"I grew up a block from here," I answered. "Baba's in the laundry business— "

Grace brightened. "My family has a laundry too."

"My father doesn't run a laundry." That came out haughtier than I intended, and I could see the change in Grace's expression. I tried again, flecking my voice with jasmine petals. "My baba is a merchant. He sells supplies to laundries: claim tickets, washboards, irons. Things like that. Not just to the mom-and-pops in this city, but to laundries all around the country."

The whole time I spoke, I searched Grace's face. She'd pulled away, but the look in her eyes! Her family's laundry was probably some little hole in the wall in that dinky town of hers.

"My parents are very traditional," I continued. "Filial piety begins with serving your parents, which leads to serving the emperor (in our case, the president), which ends in establishing your character."

Apparently, Grace wasn't familiar with that aphorism either. "I wasn't allowed to take dance classes, as you know. My brothers and I could speak only Chinese at home. I wasn't permitted to play on the street or in the park. I've never had a girlfriend. I've never even had a girl from school come to my house."

"I'm practically in the same boat friend- wise," Grace admitted. We glanced at Ruby. She lifted a shoulder. Agreement?

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.