Anchee Min

Late 19th-century China is a tumultuous land beset by warring enemies--both from beyond its borders and within the fabled walls of the Forbidden City. When her son and adopted son each succumb to early deaths, Orchid reluctantly assumes greater power. While foreign nations like Japan, Russia, France, and England fight for their share of the Chinese spoils, Orchid sees her nation divide into opposing factions. Struggling against sexism and insurgence,...

In the small southern town of Chin-kiang, in the last days of the nineteenth century, young Willow and young Pearl S. Buck, the headstrong daughter of zealous Christian missionaries, bump heads and embark on a friendship that will sustain both of them through one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history.

The beautiful, iron-willed Wild Ginger is only in elementary school when we first meet her, but already she has been singled out by the Red Guards for her "foreign-colored eyes." Her classmate Maple is also a target of persecution. It is through the quieter, more skeptical Maple, a less than ardent Maoist whose father is languishing in prison for a minor crime, that we see this story to its tragic end. The Red Guards have branded Wild Ginger's deceased...