Broken Tools: Complete trilogy including China Grade, Wrights, Powder Works

South Pacific Coast Railroad

by Ray Hosler

Broken Tools tells a sprawling, epic adventure about a Chinese family that comes to America in the 19th century seeking a better life. Against all odds they battle discrimination and harsh working conditions on the Transcontinental Railroad. At the same time, a Cornish family sails to California in search of new horizons after years toiling in the tin mines. Fate steers these two families on a collision course in the High Sierra while blasting tunnels. An unlikely yet enduring relationship develops between Chen and Rozen as they crisscross the Pacific searching for their destiny. They overcome abusive bosses and a racist society during tumultuous years between 1870-1890. This gripping account races to an earthshaking ending on a spring morning in San Francisco, the year 1906. Broken Tools, a trilogy, brings history to life in this well-researched novel based on newly available newspaper accounts of the day. Individual novels are on China Grade, book one; Wrights, book two, and Powder Works, book three.

651 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2019

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book intertwines known historical events with the fictional experience of a young Chinese man’s emigration to America. “China Grade” depicts of building of the Donner Pass tunnels, and brought to life the sacrifices of so many, and subsequently almost requires any reader to honor the workers with a visit to China Wall in Truckee. (In 2015-2016, the Reno Museum of Art hosted an exhibit "Donner Pass and the Harsh Realities of Progress” which graphically showed the dedication and sacrifice of the thousands of Chinese workers.) “Wrights” continues the railroad story, this time through the Santa Cruz mountains. For someone who lives in the area, yet has limited knowledge of the history behind so many names, this book brought life to random known roads (such as Wrights Station Road, Hihn Sulphur Springs Road). The final book in the trilogy “Powder Works” outlines a mixed-race life in Santa Cruz, and culminates with the San Francisco Earthquake. Throughout all three books, racism raises its ugly head, time and time again, causing sadness and realization that some things just never seem to truly change.

[Ray Hosler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The trilogy of China Grade, Wrights, and Powder Works in a single volume. The print version text is on the small side.