Peony in Love - New Book of the Month

Like her Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, one of the most popular book club selections of recent years, Lisa See’s Peony in Love is set in long ago China. The narrator is sixteen-year old Peony, daughter of a wealthy family in the time of the Manchus and, unusual for that time, well-educated. She collects editions of her favorite opera and, as the novel opens, is allowed to view the opera from behind a screen on three consecutive nights. She wanders away from the performance and meets a young man, something totally forbidden but exhilarating.

The descriptions are vivid (“My eyes were shaped like bamboo leaves, my brows were like gentle brushstrokes limned by a calligrapher”) and the conflict between the loving, indulgent father and harsh, tyrannical mother masterfully drawn. The novel sheds light on another culture and is beautifully written. For example:

“For daughters, marrying out is a little like dying. We say goodbye to our parents, our aunts and uncles, our cousins, and the servants who cared for us, and go into an entirely new life, where we live with our true families, where our names will be listed in our in-laws’ ancestral hall . . .”

Travel to Peony’s world via call number 3043 in the Leisure Reading collection.