Jennie Liu
The Red Car to Hollywood
Los Angeles, 1924
Sixteen-year-old Ruby Chan considers herself a modern, independent American girl. But when her secret relationship with a white boy implodes—and then is revealed to her very traditional Chinese parents—she’s in a tough spot. Horrified that Ruby’s reputation is at risk, her parents hire a matchmaker to find her a Chinese husband. Ruby is determined to foil their plans. But how?
Meanwhile, Ruby meets the nineteen-year-old film star Anna May Wong, one of her neighbors in LA’s Chinatown. The girls quickly strike up a friendship. Anna May defies Chinese convention by working as an actress on the silver screen, and she scoffs at white people’s assumptions about her. If she can forge her own path, surely Ruby can too.
Not everything is as it seems, though. Danger and betrayal lurk amidst the new possibilities. To build the life she wants, Ruby will have to contend with how others see her—and decide if she’s ready to truly see herself.
Carolrhoda Lab
Young Adult Fiction
Age 14+
256 pp | US$ 19.99
hc | 140 x 210 mm
Publication: March 2025
Author: Jennie Liu
All rights available, excl. Chinese (simpl. & compl.), Italian, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish
- Depicts the drama and tensions of the silent film era, including the relationship between Hollywood and LA's Chinatown
- Anna May Wong (1905-1961) has received renewed attention and appreciation in recent years as a complicated but important Asian American pioneer in film
Awards
“Ruby’s determination and pride in her cultural heritage are easy to root for, and her narrative closes on a satisfying note.”—Kirkus Reviews, 18 November 2024
“Centering female perspectives—such as Ruby’s ruminations on her mother’s own marriage, her witnessing Anna’s attempts to break Hollywood glass ceilings, and her recovering from sexual assault at the hands of a powerful individual—serves to showcase myriad additional challenges posed against Chinese American women in a narrative that expertly captures a complex historical moment.”—Publishers Weekly, 9 December 2024
“Meticulously researched and sumptuously realized, Ruby’s story captures the time when women were swiftly gaining ground in all parts of society whilst burdened by old structures dragging them down. . . Readers will be inspired by Ruby’s resilience and dazzled by the historical setting that Liu has painstakingly recreated.”—starred review, Booklist, 21 January 2025
“In addition to young love, friendships, and relationships, this book also discusses racism and sexism and ways to find self-identity that meets pride of culture. Recommended for collection gaps about the racism that Chinese Americans faced back in 1920s, and the different perspectives and approaches to assimilation between the first- and second-generation immigrants.”—School Library Journal, 17 January 2025
“Ruby’s development as an adolescent rebelling against the traditional expectations of her parents and then gradually gaining insight into the complex realities of their world will feel authentic to teens of all backgrounds.”—Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD), 25 February 2025
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