Four women in four eras are at the center of this book. A
Christian missionary, Addie, in China in the years leading up to the Boxer
Rebellion; Louisa, Addie’s sister who left a middle class family to homestead
in the middle of nowhere; Hazel, Louisa’s granddaughter who is suddenly left a
widow with a farm to run; and Juanlan, a young Chinese woman who as just
graduated college but has to return home to help care for her father. Each of
these women steps outside the life that is expected of them, and of course has
to live with the consequences of those quiet rebellions.
The book moves at a pretty slow pace. The minutia of daily
life is related- when the rebellions are quiet, one has to look at the ordinary
to see it contrast with the extraordinary. The descriptions are brilliant; they
bring the scenes to life. But… pretty slow. It rather reminds me of a novel
from the late 18th century, actually, with its pacing and long
descriptions. Which is fine; just be forewarned.
What I didn’t like was that I figured the four strands of
narrative would come together in the end. It was obvious what the relationships
between Addie, Louisa, and Hazel were, but the relationship that Juanlan has
with the three of them is quite nebulous- only that she lives in roughly the
same area of China that Addie lived in. I expected that at some point some long
hidden letters would appear or something that meshed them all. No such luck.
The ended was quite a letdown.
The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something from Amazon- anything- they will give me a few cents.
I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review.
Neither of these things influenced my review.
Maybe sometime - but right now I'm so far behind reading what I expect is the good stuff I can't add any "just ok"
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