This is such an amazing book. It tells the story of not just one Lady Tan but lots of women of different social classes during the Ming dynasty. Asian culture is not my particular interest usually, but not only was this book entertaining, but I learned so much about how women lived back then and how hard it was for any of them, rich or poor.
I learned about Chinese ancestral medicine and how they perceived a woman’s body in medieval China, and how women got into compliance over centuries of Confucianism (foot binding omg!) while still trying to delicately touch the surface of feminism and awareness of their (not so great) situations.
The writing is immaculate, there’s no influence from the author (in a way that she does not condemn nor glorifies anything in the way she writes except when it’s her characters doing). I loved every minute of reading this book and I must read more from her. 100% recommended.
