I
enjoy historical fiction, and Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a wonderful story
about the real Tan Yunxian, a female doctor during the Ming Dynasty in China.
From the descriptions of caring for bound feet to treatments for smallpox to
the women’s hidden lives inside the compound walls, this is a totally immersive
book. Lisa See is a master at making the era come alive with her vivid prose,
and I learned so much about this period of history and the way the people
lived.
'Despite the inordinate limits placed on women, See allows their strengths to dominate their stories' Washington Post 'Poignant . . . quietly affecting' Time
In 15th century China two women are born under the same sign, the Metal Snake. But life will take the friends on very different paths.
According to Confucius, 'an educated woman is a worthless woman', but Tan Yunxian - born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separation and loneliness - is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. She begins her training in medicine with her grandmother and, as she navigates the…
There
are so many wonderful themes in this book: colonialism, the synchronicity of
twins, the ethics of medical care, and the powerful bonds of families created
by blood or by choice.
Verghase weaves all of these ideas together in a
marvelous tapestry set in the exotic location of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the
more familiar locale of New York City. Set against the backdrop of major
historical events in Ethiopia, the novel sweeps you into a world where every
decision has unexpected consequences.
My brother, Shiva, and I came into the world in the late afternoon of the twentieth of September in the year of grace 1954. We took our first breaths in the thick air of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Bound by birth, we were driven apart by bitter betrayal. No surgeon can heal the wound that divides two brothers. Where silk and steel fail, story must succeed. To begin at the beginning...
After reading Towles’s book, A Gentleman in Moscow, I fell in love with
his voice and writing style.
Set in 1954, The Lincoln Highway follows the fate
of two orphaned brothers, Emmet and Billy, who decide to start their lives over
again in California. But fate has other plans for them when two of Emmet’s
friends wedge their way into the brothers’ plans.
Instead of traveling west on
the Lincoln Highway, they end up in New York at a vacation home. The final
chapter of this book is one of the most perfectly rendered conclusions I’ve ever
read.
Set in first-century Palestine on the fringes of the Roman
Empire and the Jesus movement, Blood of a Stone is a sweeping story of
murder, betrayal, love, and the search for redemption. Faced with the brutality
of slavery, Demetrios murders his abusive Roman master and flees to Galilee to
create a new life and a new identity.
However, freedom has its price. Secrets cannot remain
secret forever. When Demetrios is betrayed by a close friend, he risks
everything to silence those who would enslave him again. His quest leads him to
startling discoveries and dire choices, and Demetrios must answer the question
we all face: Can we ever be free of our past?
