title: Lotus Emerging
author: Babcock, Jocelynn
description: Political intrigue and romance swirl in the big smoke of the opium den hidden deep underneath The Enclave Hotel in San Francisco's Red Light District. Lotus, an empathic psychic can tell a man's greatest fear or his greatest desire with a single touch. This skill is good for business, but wreaks havoc for her personally. Politics enter the opium den with a corrupt councilman hell bent on extending the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Young political upstart, Edward Wright, accompanies the councilman with intentions of courting the elusive Lotus, who seems to know your thoughts before you can speak them. Lotus struggles to find a place to belong. The daughter of a refugee, she is as unwanted in her mother's homeland of China as she is in America. Her plans to flee The Enclave are thwarted by a kindling romance with Edward and a budding friendship with a scrappy prostitute named Emmalou. With Anti-Chinese sentiments sweeping the city, the scales of balance tilt against Lotus when the councilman is slighted and tragedy strikes. As she wrestles with feelings of love and friendship, how can she and Edward be together when the law forbids it?