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Set in the 1800s, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan portrays life as a woman in China when foot binding is a common practice, the size of a woman’s feet determines her fortune and future, and an arranged marriage is for the sole purpose of benefiting the family. There isn’t much choice in the life of a nineteenth century woman in China, and it’s a pity, according to the culture, that the woman wasn’t born a man.

But there is one method of escaping it all . . . through nu shu writing, a secret written language that only exists between women. The story follows two young girls, joined as latong (a friendship bound by contract, literally meaning “old same”), who experience childhood, foot binding, marriage, children, and death together through their nu shu writings.

Beautifully written, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a fascinating novel about friendship, love, deceit, and the hardships of being a woman in nineteenth century China.