num_pages: 252
description: In 1901, Winnifred Eaton arrived in New York City with literary ambitions, journalism experience, and the manuscript for  A Japanese Nightingale,  the novel that would make her famous. Her writing and gift for reinvention would set her apart from other women authors of her time and make her a fascinating early figure in Asian American literature.  Diana Birchall, Eaton's granddaughter, tells the Horatio Alger story of the woman who became Onoto Watanna. Born to a British father and a Chinese mother, Winnifred capitalized on her exotic appearance—and protected herself from Americans' scorn of the Chinese—by "becoming" Japanese. Her popular Japanese-themed romance novels thrust her into the glittering world of New York's literati. From there she leapt to Hollywood to become a scriptwriting protégée of Carl Laemmle at Universal Studios. Yet her boldness and talent masked a sometimes-desperate personal life that included a troubled first marriage and the sudden end of her Hollywood career.  A compelling saga of the shifting boundary between life and art,  Onoto Watanna  reveals the conflicting stories, personal tempests, and remarkable accomplishments of a woman whose career was sensational in every sense.
language: English
title: Onoto Watanna: The Story of Winnifred Eaton
titlecomplete: Onoto Watanna: The Story of Winnifred Eaton (Asian American Experience)
genres: Biography
ratings_count: 17
publisher: University of Illinois Press