Thousand Pieces of Gold

I'm not sure what the rules are regarding the titles of books but it was surely unfortunate that there are two books with the same title - the other on Chinese proverbs which three of us bought by mistake and one even read a good deal of.

Sadly the film did not live up to expectations. The book tells a far more interesting story. Do we blame the script writer? To make matters worse the audio sync was appalling and got worse as the film progressed so much that we could lip read their speech seconds after they had actually said it - many seconds!
There is certainly a feeling with the film that politics was involved in its making and I'm not sure why. A new film could well be written covering many of the social and moral issues illuminated by Polly's life ending with the honour bestowed upon her by the State of making her home a National Heritage site - not many people share this,

Though some of the writing is a little amateurish the book is an easy read and we enjoyed it. None of us knew either Polly's story or indeed much about the slavery that still existed into the early 20th Century in America. How many Chinese men went to work on the mines and railways? were they indentured labour? how do they compare with the  Mexican (Latino) workers of today viz a  viz voting rights, becoming citizens, living conditions or with African Americans or Native Americans?
And what became of them - were they finally absorbed into the melting pot that is the US or did many have to return?

Details of Lalu's early life are sketchy and based on an interview she gave in the 1920's - even her ethnicity is unclear though in the film it is cited as Mongolian but this is not corroborated in the book.
She was passed from her father (the heart-breaking scene of her father returning home with his hands over his ears in the film is perhaps its most moving moment) -to a number of men and women for most of her life - until she came to rest with Charlie Bemis. Yet she remained a strong, kind, immensely proud and generous woman. It is easy to see how she earned the respect of the mining community with its rough drinking men.