Emmeline’s Empire
Date: 8 February 1861
To: Mrs Mei Tao, 1 Kwai Chung Road, Kwai Fong, Hong Kong
From: Miss Xiong Tao, c/- Terang Millinery, Terang, Victoria, Australia
Mother,
I write to you in the certain knowledge that you will carry my secrets to the grave. Not because you love me, or respect any particular of my life and choices, but because you are too ashamed of me to speak my name aloud. So here we find ourselves, brought into close confidence despite the oceans between us. How nice.
Two weeks ago, Miss Emmeline Muchamore herself appeared in my little nowhere town with a ruined dress, a stolen horse, and three inner pockets sagging with the weight of gold nuggets. But perhaps news of her hasn’t reached Hong Kong. She is a flame-haired convict who was shot while trying to gain
