Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

First paragraph in the book:  "Our daughter looks like a South China peasant with those red cheeks," my father complains, pointedly ignoring the soup before him.  "Can't you do something about them?"

Backcover blurb:  Shanghai, 1937.  Pearl and May are two sisters from a bourgeois family.  Though their personalities are very different - Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep - adorable and placid - they are inseparable best friends.  Both are beautiful, modern and living a carefree life ... until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away the family's wealth, and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to two "Gold Mountain" men:  Americans.

As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, the two sisters set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the villages of southern China, in and out of the clutches of brutal soldiers, and even across the ocean, through the humiliation of an anti-Chinese detention centre to a new, married life in Los Angeles's Chinatown.  Here they begin a fresh chapter, despite the racial discrimination and anti-Communist paranoia, because now they have something to strive for:  a young, American-born daughter, Joy.

Along the way there are terrible sacrifices, impossible choices and one devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel by Lisa See hold fast to who they are - Shanghai girls.


About the author:  Lisa See is the author of five previous novels, including the critically acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Flower Net (which was nominated for an Edgar Award), The Interior, and Dragon Bones.  She is also the author of the widely acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain.  The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year.  She lives in Los Angeles.  Shanghai Girls is a work of historical fiction.  Have a lookout for her new book, Dreams of Joy, the sequel to Shanghai Girls due to be released on 31 May 2011.

You can find out lots more information about the author, her books, appearances, reviews, amazing photos, etc on her official website and as well as on flickr.

Here is Lisa See with rather interesting tidbits on her book:



This video is in six parts of when she was in La Jolla, California on 2 July 2009 on the last leg of the Shanghai Girls book tour:













Rating:  5/5