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  • Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

  • A heart-wrenching story of friendship between two ladies in 19th century China. The author did a wonderful job of bringing not only her characters to life but also painting a picture of the life of a woman in traditional Chinese society.

    

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• ― Readingrat said on Feb 23, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  • This was a moving book about friendship and how different perceptions can affect it. I also learned a lot about women's lives and customs in 19th century rural China.

    

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• ― krin5292 said on Jan 23, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  • Fast read, heart breaking

  • I read this in two weeks, and I have a 3 yr old! If you loved memoirs of a geisha this will be right up your alley.

    

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• ― Lmarker said on Apr 8, 2009 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

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  • Beautiful book on friendship

  • A lesson to learn about how we treat those we cherish. The hardships of women & how we put up a good front out of necessity. One womens regret not to communicate clearly with her laotong.

    

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• ― Sapphire Apple (livisplace) said on Oct 30, 2008 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

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  • foot binding . . . old sames . . . Excellent! . . . a female version of The Kite Runner because of the betrayal by one childhood friend of another, and just as heart-rending.

    

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• ― Missmath144 said on Aug 31, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

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  • Interesting story about life in China, plus about how to be a good friend. Very detailed about foot binding and it was all much more gruesome than I could have imagined.

    

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• ― Deanna Kyre said on Apr 13, 2008 | Add your feedback

In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

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