The Girl Below

A historical novel about 17-year-old Jo Kuan— a Chinese girl living in Atlanta. Stacey Lee, an American of Chinese descent, made it a New York Times bestseller and it also ended up in Reese Witherspoon’s book club.

Jo Kuan was born in America, but she can’t become a full citizen of her country. She’s forced to work as a maid for the daughter of one of the richest men in Atlanta, and she lives in a basement under the local newspaper’s editorship. Soon, Jo finds out the newspaper could close—meaning the girl might lose her room. She drops a letter with an idea for a new column into the newspaper’s mailbox and begins writing an anonymous advice column for noble ladies. Suddenly, Jo’s column becomes popular and attracts new readers.

Jo— or “Miss Strawberry,” as her readers call her—starts talking about the problems of modern society: racial discrimination and women’s suffrage. Her progressive views don’t please everyone. Her detractors try to pull the anonymous writer out of the shadows and threaten her. Will she be able to keep fighting for her rights and change something?