Fascinating tale of females in China. A girl child's fate to be left at the doorstep of a silk factory in the mid-20's. Readers will have a chance to watch Pei grow and the learn of the life of a silk worker in China. Wonderful.

Great read for a rainy weekend. Loved this book set in early 20th century rural China.

good book to read if you like amy tan.

I really enjoy reading books about the Asian culture and if you are, too, then this won't disappoint. Enjoyable and informational, too!

This was a pretty straight forward book about a "spirited" daughter who was sold by her family. I found that the author made this almost seem to easy for the heroine to get used to and become good at it.Though I found the book well written and gave me some iinsight on the silk trade.

A tender and beautifully written book. Any fan of Asian literature or fine subtle writing will appreciate this work.

The story of friendship among women working in a silk factory, most of them taken there as children by their parents, with part of their wages going back to help the family.

Interesting story of rural China in the 1920's and the women who have bravely made a life for themselves by working the a silk factory.

I liked this book because of the historical value. It was interesting see read about these young women in China and about their lives. The book was delicate and read like a young adult book instead of a novel.

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Here we have the story of Pei who is sold to the Silkmakers and Lin, who is currently working there. They develop a deep friendship and that is what helps them make it through the hours and the onerous, tedious and difficult task of making silk. The girls become very close. Eventually they lead a walk out of the workers to get better conditions. Ms. Tsukiyama writes so smoothly it is like drinking warm tea, a sip here, a sip there. She has a mastery of making you feel as though you are there. In her next book, The Language of Threads, she continues the story of Pei and Lin. I most highly recommend this book to anyone who is partial to literature about women, especially Asian women and their struggles and triumphs. If you liked, The Joy Luck Club, I believe you will enjoy this book and its sequel.

Excellent book! Great story line. Before I knew it I was finished.

I loved this book because it is about the Asian culture. Gail Tsukiyama not only brings out the history and what its like to live then, but she does a good job at pulling you into that time. I also Laura Joh Rowlands books for the same reasons.

Good read. People have compared this to Memoirs of a Geisha. I found the characters in this book much more likable.

Ancient culture whose values have prevailed through the mists of time.
Strong, implacable, deeply loving women.
Timeless story of sacrifice, commitment, survival, fulfillment, love, triumph.


I've also read:

The Samurai's Garden
(St. Martin's Press, 1996)
On the eve of the Second World War, a young Chinese man is sent to his family's summer home in Japan to recover from tuberculosis. He will rest, swim in the salubrious sea, and paint in the brilliant shoreside light. It will be quiet and solitary. But he meets four local residents - a lovely young Japanese girl and three older people. What then ensues is a tale that readers will find at once classical yet utterly unique. Young Stephen has his own adventure, but it is the unfolding story of Matsu, Sachi, and Kenzo that seizes your attention and will stay with you forever. Tsukiyama, with lines as clean, simple, telling, and dazzling as the best of Oriental art, has created an exquisite little masterpiece.

and:

The Language of Threads
(St. Martin's Press, 1999)
In her acclaimed debut novel, Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama told the moving story of Pei, brought to work in the silk house as a girl, grown into a quiet but determined young woman whose life was subject to cruel twists of fate, including the loss of her closest friend, Lin. Now we finally learn what happened to Pei, as she leaves the silk house for Hong Kong in the 1930's, arriving with a young orphan, Ji Shen, in her care. Her first job, in the home of a wealthy family, ends in disgrace, but soon Pei and Ji Shen find a new life in the home of Mrs. Finch, a British ex-patriate who welcomes them as the daughters she never had. Their new family is torn apart, however, by war, and the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. As Mrs. Finch is forced into a prison camp, and Ji Shen tries to navigate the perilous waters of the gang-run black market, Pei is once again forced to make her own way, struggling to survive and to keep her extended family alive as well.
In this dramatic story of hardship and survival in the face of historic upheaval, Gail Tsukiyama brings her trademark grace and storytelling flair to paint a moving, unforgettable portrait of women fighting the forces of war and time to make a life for themselves.

and:

Night of Many Dreams
(St. Martin's Press, 1998)
Gail Tsukiyama's most recent novel tells the powerful story of two sisters coming of age in Hong Kong, beginning just before the Second World War.
When war threatens the comfortable life of Joan and Emma Lew, the daughters of a Hong Kong businessman, they escape with their family to spend the early 1940s in Macao. When they return home, Joan, the beautiful elder sister, hopes for a traditional marriage and children, until her passion for movies and romance gives her the promise of different life. Emma, inspired by the independence of her aunt Go, considers college in San Francisco and the challenge of life in America.
As the girls become women, each follows a different path from what her family expects. But through times of great happiness and sorrow, the sisters learn that their complicated ties to each other--and to the other members of their close-knit family--are a source of strength as they pursue their separate dreams.


Asian cultural values speak deeply to me.

Tsukyama's works keep me in touch with principles I value even if I don't always understand or reflect them myself.

Good book, I enjoyed this!

Fascinating study of the lives of women in rural China in the 1920's

Exciting book...could not put it down...showed how children were forced into child labor at a young age...all of Gail Tsukiyama books are great reads!

This book was "enlivened with an engrossing richness of detail. It provides a revealing look at the life and customs of China -- succinct and delicate." It was both sad and sweet.

An easy read. Transported me to a different time and place.

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