The front cover showed a picture of an Asian girl with striking blue-green eyes and mountains (Himalayas) in the background.

The girl escapes from the brothel with the help of an American woman who takes her into her own home and brings her up with her young son.

There is another plot going on with the woman's husband who is Chinese-American, I think posing as an author or journalist who eventually disappears on a mission.

The girl never finds out for sure who her father is but does go on a journey to the north of India/Afganistan? to try and find out.

She eventually takes the rap for the young son who shoots an American friend of the family she goes to bed with.

She goes back to marry an old rich man who had offered to marry her and pay for her to avoid prison.

The book ends in the US with a memorial or recognition service of the work done by the Chinese-American husband who has died in prison in China and the son, now a adult grown man, looks up to see the woman he knew as a young friend in India. 

It spans about 5 decades