About the Author
Stacey Lee is a fourth-generation Chinese-American author who writes history from the inside: her novels follow characters whose lives resemble those her own ancestors lived — Chinese workers on the Transcontinental Railroad, immigrants during the Gold Rush, laborers who built a country that refused to fully acknowledge them. A fourth-generation Chinese-American, Lee was born and raised in Southern California and practiced law before turning to writing full-time. Her legal background, which requires immense attention to detail and a profound understanding of social justice, combined with her own family's rich history, informs her deeply researched and emotionally resonant narratives.
Her body of work centers on what she calls 'found' history — novels that bring the Chinese-American experience in the 19th and early 20th centuries into focus within the larger American historical narrative. She catapulted to literary fame with 'Under a Painted Sky' (2015), which follows two girls—one Chinese and one African-American—disguised as boys on the Oregon Trail. She further cemented her reputation with 'The Downstairs Girl' (2019), which features a young Chinese woman in 1890s Atlanta who writes an anonymous, subversive advice column under the pen name Miss Sweetie. Lee is lauded by critics for her ability to tackle heavy themes of racism, sexism, and identity with a light touch, humor, and an unwavering sense of hope.
In addition to her standalone historicals, Lee has authored the 'Luck of the Titanic' and 'Reese's Book Club' selection 'The Downstairs Girl,' as well as her new release 'Heiress of Nowhere.' Her work has earned numerous accolades, including reaching the top of the New York Times Bestseller list and winning the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. As a founding member of 'We Need Diverse Books,' she is a prominent advocate for inclusivity in children’s and young adult publishing.
Stacey Lee writes from the San Francisco Bay Area and has become one of YA historical fiction's most important voices for centering Chinese-American experience in the American past — the Gold Rush, the railroad era, the Dust Bowl — at moments when that history has been deliberately obscured or ignored. Her prose is precise and her research meticulous, but the books read as stories first. For young adult readers and adult crossover readers interested in American history told from perspectives that standard curricula routinely omit, Lee's bibliography is both educational and genuinely captivating.