Set against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles in the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this debut book celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine to light to reclaim her place in cinema history.

Before Constance Wu, Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, or Lucy Liu, there was Anna May Wong. In her time, she was a glamorous starlet, flapper, and fashion icon who graced Oscar-winning films and who was mobbed by clamoring fans and the adoring press both here and abroad.

Anna May Wong was plucked from her family’s Chinatown laundry business in Los Angeles and rose to stardom in some of classic Hollywood’s biggest films. When she tired of Hollywood stereotyping, she headed abroad in protest. She found international fame starring in films across London, Paris, and Berlin, and returned to find Hollywood on bended knee, offering a three-picture studio contract. She used her new stature to move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady, and she worked to reshape Asian American representation in film.

Filled with stories of capricious directors and admiring costars, glamorous parties and far flung love affairs, Not Your China Doll showcases the sparkling, revolutionary life of a groundbreaking artist.

Story Locale:Hollywood, NYC, London, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, Hong Kong.

Katie Gee Salisbury is a writer and former editor at HarperCollins and Amazon Publishing. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Marie Claire. She was a Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship finalist, she’s given the TED Talk “As American as Chop Suey,” and she speaks at the Museum of Chinese in America, Columbia, and NYU. She is a fifth-generation Chinese American and lives in Brooklyn. This is her debut book.