Lisa See's latest novel, Lady Tan's Circle of Women (#1,152) is in the same league as my favorites from her earlier works: Peony In Love and Snowflower's Secret Fan. I found this book based on an actual female doctor working during the Ming Dynasty gripping. This Lady Tan Yuxian is loosely based on what is known about her, but she is principally known because she published a book about her cases. Since she was a woman, she was confined to treating only women, but in the elite households of the time, that certainly gave her plenty of scope!
This book has life-and-death situations and nail-biting suspense, but the most interesting part of the book for me, were the glimpses into the claustrophobic world of elite women of that time period. Women might only expect to see two places in their life: the home they were born into and the home they marry into. Yet there were elaborate rules built in the conduct of everyday life. Yuxian managed the almost impossible - to have a profession other than wife, mother, and dutiful daughter-in-law: both her grandparents were doctors and chose to pass along their wisdom to her. What a wonderful imagining of how things might have been.
Isn't it ironic that it was the pandemic which pushed Lisa See into writing this book since she was confined to her own home with limited resources? I really appreciate the outcome!
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