Book Review: Lady Tan's Circle of Women

 

Lisa See's latest novel, Lady Tan's Circle of Women, kept me reading past my usual bedtime several evenings. Based on an actual person, this historical fiction novel centers on Tan Yunxian, who lived in 15th century China in a well-to-do family.

Yunxian lost her mother when she was a small child. Her father, who was seldom home because of his high government position, sent her to live with her paternal grandparents, both doctors. The grandmother sees promise in this small child and sets out to train her as a doctor. Female doctors in this time were far and few between. 

Yunxian learns about the Four Examinations which are looking, listening, touching, and asking. Isn't this what we hope doctors of today will do, as well? She also learns what the pulse reveals, but it takes many years to perfect this type of examination. 

A midwife and her daughter serve the household of many women. The young girl, Ming Lei, and Yunxian become girlhood friends vowing to never part, despite the difference in the level of society each one comes from. The theme of friendship is a major part of the story thorughout the book, as we follow both the girls through being young women on into middle age and beyond. 

Yunxian is betrothed as a young child and wed at age fifteen, as was common in that period. Even though she is already gifted in the field of medicine, her mothr-in-law forbids her to practice, even among the many females in the large household. She is to be wife, mother, and all that goes with it but no more.

The story continues through difficult times in Yunxian's life, her relationship with her mother-in-law, her husband, and her treasured friend, Mei Ling, as well as how she does practice medicine within the family and even, secretly, to outsiders. We see her as wife, mother, doctor, and friend. 

Lisa See is a fine storyteller, knows how to draw the reader in, and hold them right to the end of the book. She has written many other books, all of which deal with China in some way. She is part Chinese in heritage and has delved deeply into the lives of Chinese people in China and also in the United States as immigrants through fiction based on fact. 

I especially liked learning how medicine was practiced in ancient China, so different, and yet some similarites to doctors of today.