Hello Journey through History book group fans,
Our book for 12/5/23 in A Journey through History is Lady Tan’s Circle of Women DB 115160 by Lisa Se. David Faucheux will be leading our discussion and has provided the below email received from the author Lisa See in the email history with some links regarding the book.
Hope to see you at the meeting.
Here is the NLS annotation:
Lady Tan’s circle of women DB115160
See, Lisa Reading time: 13 hours, 6 minutes.
Jennifer Lim
Historical Fiction
Women
Bestsellers
“According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient. From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom. But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.” — Provided by publisher. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller.
From: David F
Below is the bit from Lisa See’s email reply to me that I wanted to share with the group.
I love to join book clubs on Zoom. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join you on that date, because that’s my husband’s birthday. Since I can’t join you, I hope you’ll take a look at my web site, particularly the Step Inside the World of Lady Tan section, where I have a lot of photos, videos, etc. Here’s the link: https://lisasee.com/step-inside/lady-tans-circle-of-women/#guide
Two more things. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women was Target’s Book Pick for August. I signed all the copies that people can order online. Plus the edition comes with a special essay written by me. I think it’s discounted too. I know they still have copies. Here’s the link in case your participants want to take advantage of this: https://www.target.com/p/lady-tan-39-s-circle-of-women-a-novel-target-exclusive-edition-by-lisa-see-hardcover/-/A-89091344#lnk=sametab
Second, I’m not sure if you’ll be interested in this either, but Linda Louie, the owner of Bana Tea, has created a tea package for book clubs that has the teas that are in the novel. The reason they’re in the novel is because they’re two of my favorite teas! Writers get to do things like that. Here’s the link: https://www.banateacompany.com/pages/Lisa-See-Tasting-Kit-2023.html
