The later part of 1980s opened us to the world of four mothers, four daughters and four families that Amy Tan deftly chronicled in The Joy Luck Club. We get to experience the life of Chinese women in a foreign land -- away from where they grew up -- as they build a home of hope away from home.
Now after 8 years since her last novel, Saving Fish from Drowning (2005), we get to another face of Orient culture -- the world of Shanghai courtesans. If Arthur Golden has Memoirs of a Geisha for Japanese courtesans, then this Amy Tan book could very well be the Chinese equivalent of it.
Here is the cover of The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan, the author of The Joy Luck Club.
Synopsis
Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women’s intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.
Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign “Shanghailanders” living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.
A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and stubbornness of love.
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan is now available for purchase in every leading bookstores.
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