Lisa See is the author of 8 books, including the Flower Net, The Interior, and Dragon Bones, which together make up the Red Princess mystery series. Dreams of Joy, her latest book, is a sequel of sorts to Shanghai Girls, chronicling the visit to China of the daughter of one of the sisters from the first novel.
See is also the author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which has been made into a movie and is currently in limited theatrical release.
Shanghai Girls is the story of two elegant but sheltered sisters from Shanghai who suffer a terrible reversal of fortune just before Shanghai falls to the Japanese in 1937.
The daughters of an owner of a successful rickshaw business, Pearl (21) and May (18) enjoy the best 1937 Shanghai has to offer: they love their beautiful dresses cut from Parisian fabrics, and enjoy going out with rich Chinese and Westerners living in Shanghai.
May, the younger sister, is so beautiful that she and Pearl get work as models for calendars and other advertising vehicles. Pearl and May feel independent and modern.
They're deeply shocked when they discover that their father has lost his business, their family home and all the girls' savings by gambling. To pay off his gambling debt, his father is forced to offer both his daughter in an arranged marriage to the sons of a Chinese-American merchant visiting the city.
The girls protest that they're modern women and that they'll do no such thing, but as Shanghai is attacked by the Japanese, the girls realize that accepting these arranged marriages is their last and only hope for escaping the city before the Japanese invade.
With only their mother and a rickshaw driver they escape into the countryside as they try to reach Hong Kong, a British protectorate where they can get a boat to the U.S. As they travel deeper into the countryside, they unwittingly pass into Japanese territory with disastrous consequences they haunt them for years to come.
It's a cliche, but this novel has something for everyone: a well-researched historical novel, it appeals to the travel and history buffs; spanning decades, it's a family saga; and it's also the story of mother and sister love. The relationship of these two sisters and their differing reactions to the changing events around them is the heart of this novel and its real subject. This story reveals the special hardships that Chinese immigrants to this country suffered as a result of severely discriminatory laws and practices, and also shows the painful impact of the Red Scare of the 1950's on Chinese immigrants.
Lisa See's own family were Chinese-American merchants working on Los Angeles, and she sets the American part of this novel in Los Angeles, reviewing the interesting connection between Chinatown and Hollywood history.
The "immigrant experience" is such a huge part of American history, and this story underscores the kinds of generational conflict that can rip families apart.
It's Lisa See's passion for telling the stories of Chinese-Americans that appeals to me most.
The "sequel" to this novel is "Dreams of Joy," the story of Pearl's daughter and her efforts to find herself in Mao's China.
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