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Snow Flower, by the author of three crime thrillers set in Communist China and the bestselling memoir On Gold Mountain (1995), explores women's insular lives in 19th-century rural China. The novel is many things at once: a portrait of a patriarchal culture that valued sons and banished girls to a lesser sphere; an exploration of friendship in all its ups and downs, jealousies, loyalties, and betrayals; and a comment on the spiritual meaning (or emptiness) of tradition, ritual, and ceremony.

Criti

Snow Flower, by the author of three crime thrillers set in Communist China and the bestselling memoir On Gold Mountain (1995), explores women's insular lives in 19th-century rural China. The novel is many things at once: a portrait of a patriarchal culture that valued sons and banished girls to a lesser sphere; an exploration of friendship in all its ups and downs, jealousies, loyalties, and betrayals; and a comment on the spiritual meaning (or emptiness) of tradition, ritual, and ceremony.

Critics heap praise on See's latest effort. Her blend of fiction and history__a "deft weave of fact and fiction [that] stands out as her signature strength"__invites readers into a world both strange and strangely familiar (San Diego Union-Tribune). See's impeccable research offers detailed insight into different aspects of Chinese culture that are new to most readers: the gut-wrenching practice of foot binding, the magical world of nu shu, the isolated and lonely world of wives and mothers, who spent nearly their entire lives in seclusion. At the same time, we're able to identify with the characters__Snow Flower and Lily's intimate relationship and their struggle to find meaning in life despite the harsh confines of their existence. See's prose, if not as poetic as other contemporary Chinese-American authors, still has strength and grace. Action (such as the Taiping rebellion) peppers the narrative, yet some subplots seem manufactured. This is a minor quibble, however; Snow Flower is a literary triumph. "By bringing the secret world of these Chinese women into vivid relief," notes the Los Angeles Times, "See has conjured up an alien world that is the better for being lost."

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.