"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" - Lisa See

This novel begins with the painful regrets of an 80 year old Chinese woman. Lily is in her "Sitting Quietly" time awaiting her turn to die. She has outlived her husband, a few of her children, and many of the people she has loved. Most importantly she has lost her laotong, or old same.

Lily is born to a so-so family. While they are not poor, Lily expects her life to follow the path of all girls around the county. Her feet will be bound at age 6, she hopes to marry out to a family from the nearby village, and join a group of sworn sisters. When the diviner comes to predict the most prosperous date for her binding, her life is changed forever. She suddenly gets pushed into women's intrigues when the matchmaker predicts that she, with proper foot-binding, may have the smallest feet in the county. Lily will have the chance of a very advantageous marriage and gain a laotong, Snow Flower, a girl from a very prosperous town (whom was born on the exact year, month, day, and hour) to be life friends with. Together they use the secret women's language, nu shu, to send messages to each other to share life's happiness and tragedies to form an unbreakable bond.

All comes to pass as predicted, but life has come out of balance. Much sadness comes to Lily's and her family. She also learns that Snow Flower has betrayed her. It is a story of ultimate friendship, life, and forgiveness.

FROM LISA SEE'S WEBSITE:

“This is a fascinating portrait of a time and place alive with beauty and brutality.”— USA Today

“You can relish See's extraordinary fourth novel as a meticulously researched account of women's lives in 19th-century China, where it is ‘better to have a dog than a daughter.’ (And where the girls' feet are bound in a stomach-turning ritual that See describes with admirable precision and coolness.) But you can also savor See's marvelous narrative as a timeless portrait of a contentious full-blooded female friendship, one that includes, over several decades, envy, betrayal, erotic love, and deep-seated loyalty.” —Entertainment Weekly

A language kept a secret for a thousand years forms the backdrop for an unforgettable novel of two Chinese women whose friendship and love sustains them through their lives.

This absorbing novel – with a storyline unlike anything Lisa See has written before – takes place in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion with only a single window from which to see. Illiterate and isolated, they were not expected to think, be creative, or have emotions. But in one remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu – "women's writing" – the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world. Some girls were paired as "old-sames" in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their windows to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.

An old woman tells of her relationship with her "old-same," their arranged marriages, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood—until a terrible misunderstanding written on their secret fan threatens to tear them apart. With the detail and emotional resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha , Snow Flower and the Secret Fan delves into one of the most mysterious and treasured relationships of all time—female friendship.