Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See – 368 pages

ARC from Scribner for an honest review

Book Blurb:

According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.
But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

My Review: 4.5 stars

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Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See was a fascinating look into Eastern medicine, women’s roles in 15^th century China and breaking free from tradition. I’m always excited when a new See book comes out. She’s so good at creating descriptive and richly layered characters, while simultaneously constructing interesting storylines.

This book is based on the diary of the real life Tan Yunxian that the author found within her own extensive bookshelves. Learning about the first woman to treat patients, when traditionally only men did the doctoring and weren’t allowed to touch women was incredibly shocking! How does a male doctor treat a woman when he’s unable to touch her? Crazy!

This book shows the power of women when they support one another. It shows the sacrifices women make for their dreams to come true, while it’s so much simpler for men. I learned a lot about Eastern medicine versus Western medicine, which was fascinating.

As always, See brings a lot of detail to the page. Some may think that the minute detais derails the story while others love it. Her writing really makes the story come alive and allows the characters to endear themselves to the reader. Another great book club pick. 

Quotes I liked:

Store up good deeds and you will meet with good. Store up evil actions and you will meet with evil.”

“Friendship is a contract between two hearts. With hearts united, women can laugh and cry, live and die together.”

“It takes a lifetime to make a friend, but you can lose one in an hour,” she recites. “Life without a friend is life without sun. Life without a friend is death.”