Jeanette Ingold | Paper Daughter

Published: June 3, 2010

Jeanette Ingold weaves an engrossing mystery story for young adults in her new book, inspired by the tales of Chinese immigrants.   

High school student Maggie Chen has just lost her father to a freak accident. He was a respected Seattle newspaper writer, and Maggie had hoped to follow in his footsteps with her own journalistic aspirations. In going through some of her father’s papers, she finds clues that lead her to question his true identity.

Complicating matters is Maggie’s job as an intern at the newspaper where her father worked. A scandal is about to break that could implicate her father as being involved in some unsavory financial business. Driven to reveal her father’s past and clear his name, Maggie embarks on a path of research and discovery.

This story is uniquely told in a split fashion, with Maggie narrating the present, while her ancestors describe their struggles in the 1930s. A tattered old postcard, some telephone records and several hours at the library eventually lead our heroine to confront an elderly gentleman in the historic Chinatown district who helps her understand her father’s history.

Ingold, who lives in Missoula, is the author of six young adult novels. The author says the seed for this book was planted while researching her last novel for young readers, the award-winning Hitch. An archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration Facility in Seattle introduced her to files on Chinese immigrants. “When she did, I knew I had my next book,” writes Ingold. The result is an engrossing tale for readers of all ages.

Paper Daughter was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group and sells for $17; read an excerpt at www.jeanetteingold.com.