Novelist Lisa See mainly writes historical novels set in China and only my wife’s choice of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women persuaded me to read it, but the decision was a fine one. The novel’s plotline – a high-born young woman in 15th-century China learning medicine from her grandmother and then navigating a constrained life of marriage and helping other women – contains few fireworks but the author is a lovely, close-up stylist who immerses the reader in everything from cruel foot-binding to the strange form of medicine practised then. The result is a read that takes time to captivate but ends up as a warm-hearted immersion in a surreal, suffocating world. The author’s exhaustive research could have been tedious to read but instead forms a backbone of the book, along with fine characterisation. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a satisfying read that might surprise many.
Book, movie/show, and album reviews
