Peony in Love » (Reprint)

Lisa See may not appear to fit the standard conception of a Chinese-American woman, but her deep roots in her Chinese background have set her on a path leading her to being one of the most significant Asian-American voices in contemporary writing.

The latest creation from the author of the New York Times bestseller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, received a starred review in Publishers' Weekly ... "Peony's vibrant voice, perfectly pitched between the novels historical and passionate depths, carries her story beautifully in life and afterlife."

"I finally understand what the poets have written. In spring, moved to passion; in autumn only regret."

For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, these lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen.

Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man with hair as black as a cave and is immediately overcome with emotion. So begins Peony's unforgettable journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow as Lisa See's haunting new...

The Washington Post - Nicholas Delbanco

A novel whose protagonist hangs, after death, from a room's rafters and climbs inside a rival's womb to untangle a child's umbilical cord, who dies of self-starvation and communes with the ghosts of her mother and grandmother, who pens a major commentary on a seemingly seditious text and ends up reconciled with both of her successor-wives -- well, suffice it to say that the pleasures of Peony in Love are neither those of logic nor chronology. Years pass in a paragraph; realms are traversed in a line. This reader felt, from time to time, almost literally transported and commends the willing suspension of Western disbelief. There's much here to be savored and a great deal to be learned.