With Snow Flower, See has written a novel that ranks with the best fiction of Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston, the modern luminaries of Chinese storytelling.” - Philadelphia Inquirer “It’s hard to imagine that someone could write a better novel. The prose is elegant, the voice sure, the story unforgettable-at times punishing in its authenticity. With the detail and emotional resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan delves into one of the most mysterious and treasured relationships of all time-female friendship. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their windows to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.Īn old woman tells of her relationship with her “old-same,” their arranged marriages, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood-until a terrible misunderstanding written on their secret fan threatens to tear them apart. Some girls were paired as “old-sames” in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. But in one remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu – “women’s writing” – the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world. Illiterate and isolated, they were not expected to think, be creative, or have emotions. This absorbing novel – with a storyline unlike anything Lisa See has written before – takes place in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion with only a single window from which to see.
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