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Book Review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
reviewed on + 68 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


This is a hauntingly beautiful and achingly sad tale of life in 19th century China in a remote village. By age 6 Chinese daughters are made to endure painful foot binding. A girl named Lily, at the tender age of 7, is paired with a laotong, or "old same", in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. Her laotong, Snow Flower, sends her a silk fan on which she has written a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women used to communicate with each other in secret, away from the influence of men. This is the story of their survival in a world that is cruel to women. If follows them through their marriages, births, trials, and political rebellions. It is a story of friendship and survival. But when a misunderstanding arises, their friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart. The pages will float by in this riveting story.