Finding Samuel Lowe, Paula Williams Madison
Finding Samuel Lowe, Paula Williams Madison
List: $17.99 | Sale: $12.59
Club: $8.99

Finding Samuel Lowe
China, Jamaica, Harlem

Author: Paula Williams Madison

Narrator: Paula Williams Madison

Unabridged: 7 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/30/2015


Synopsis

Thanks to her spiteful, jealous Jamaican mother, Nell Vera Lowe was cut off from her Chinese father, Samuel, when she was just a baby, after he announced that he was taking a Chinese bride. By the time Nell was old enough to travel to her father's shop in St. Anne's Bay, he'd taken his family back to China, never learning what became of his eldest daughter. Bereft, Nell left Jamaica for New York to start a new life. But her Asian features set her apart from her Harlem neighbors and even her own children—a difference that contributed to her feeling of loneliness and loss, which she instilled in her only daughter, Paula.



Years later, with a successful corporate career behind her and the arrival of her only grandchild raising questions about family and legacy, Paula decided to search for Samuel Lowe's descendants in China. With the support of her brothers and the help of encouraging strangers, Paula eventually pieced together the full story of her grandfather's life, following his story from China to Jamaica and back and connecting with 300 surprised relatives who were overjoyed to meet her.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Peggy on December 30, 2018

I found so much of this informative and eye opening. I loved learning the history of Chinese migrants in Jamaica and what their experiences were like, especially in terms of race relations in the country. The story of Samuel Lowe’s various wives, children, and families is fascinating, and I wish the......more

Goodreads review by Megan on January 10, 2020

*I am not assigning star ratings in 2019 as a personal experiment* Read this book as part of the Silicon Valley Reads program at my library. Was fortunate to see the author speak; she included a lot of general history about the Hakka people that wasn't in the book, so that was interesting and added t......more

Goodreads review by Constance on December 27, 2017

Loved it! Fascinating. Looking for her grandfather, who left her mother when she was three, made trips from Jamaica to China and finally settled there. She researched, interviewed and met with relatives until she uncovered many stories.......more

Goodreads review by Nicole on June 20, 2022

Interesting story of one woman’s quest to find her roots but it is also, hidden in her story, is a very readable history of Jamaica and China’s connections. The author recounts how these histories are interconnected and then brings the connections back full circle to explain how Chinese are returnin......more

Goodreads review by Jeanette on February 09, 2019

Interesting to learn about the Chinese in Jamaica. As with many books written around genealogy, the story is most interesting to those it directly impacts. I found it dragged a bit in the second half.......more