Peony In Love
Library Journal Review: Starred Review. In 17th-century China, pampered daughters of wealthy families emulated the romantic tragedy depicted in the popular opera The Peony Pavilion. These teenagers, known as the lovesick maidens, starved themselves to death, writing of romantic perfection. Such is the basis for See's extraordinary new novel. During a performance of The Peony Pavilion on her family's estate, 15-year-old Peony (the real-life Chen Tong) has a chaste but daringly forbidden chance encounter with a young poet just as she is about to enter into an arranged marriage. Now unable to bear being wed to a stranger, Peony refuses all sustenance while she writes her thoughts of romance in the margins of the play's script. At her death, Peony, trapped in the afterworld as a tortured "hungry ghost," infiltrates her beloved's subsequent marriages, seeking respite from her torment. See takes another little-known chapter of Chinese history, flavors it with the minutely researched customs and superstitions of the time, and produces a soaring, stunning novel of Chinese women who gave voice to their creative endeavors, no matter what the cost. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/07.]?Beth E. Andersen, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.