Mrs. Spring Fragrance

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Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912) is a collection of short stories by Sui Sin Far. Inspired by her experience living among Chinese Americans in San Francisco and Seattle, Mrs. Spring Fragrance is considered one of the earliest works of fiction published in the United States by a woman of Chinese heritage.

In "The Inferior Woman," Mrs. Spring Fragrance encounters her neighbors, the Carmans, as they try to find someone to marry their son. While Mrs. Carman wants him to marry into a family of higher social standing, her son is in love with a local girl who works as a legal secretary. Known by Mrs. Carman as the "Inferior Woman," she has risen through hard work and perseverance to achieve her position at the law firm. Sympathetic toward her neighbor's son, Mrs. Spring Fragrance advocates on his behalf. "In the Land of the Free" is the story of a Chinese immigrant who is separated from her young son upon arrival due to insufficient paperwork. Exploring the struggles of this woman to reclaim her son, Sui Sin Far exposes the discrimination and hardships faced by Chinese Americans due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, illuminating the byzantine and restrictive immigration policies which sadly continue under a different guise in modern America.

This edition of Sui Sin Far's Mrs. Spring Fragrance is a classic of Chinese American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Author Bio

Sui Sin Far (1865-1914) was a Chinese English writer known for writing stories on the experience of Chinese people in North America. Born in England to an English father and Chinese mother, she was raised as Edith Maude Eaton. The second of fourteen children, Far moved with her family to New York before returning to England in 1868. In 1872, they emigrated to Montreal, where the family struggled and Far was required to work to support her parents and siblings. At the age of 18, while working as a typesetter for the Montreal Star, Far began writing stories, articles, and poetry for local magazines. In 1896, she went to Jamaica, where she worked as a journalist before moving to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Employed as a legal secretary, she began writing articles exploring her Chinese heritage and stories illuminating the experience of Chinese Americans suffering under the Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1912, she published Mrs. Spring Fragrance, a popular collection of short stories tracing the lives of Chinese families living on the American west coast.