Lady Tan’s Circle Of Women is the latest novel by New York Times best-selling author Lisa See.
It’s set in China in the 15th century, during the Ming Dynasty, and tells the story of Tan Yunxian, an eight-year-old girl.
The book is based on the life of a real person and quickly envelops you in her world, and the traditions and beliefs she is expected to adhere to unwaveringly.
They include the intricate set-up of the average home, which is the absolute dominion of the father; the duties his wife and children must know off by heart to ensure his complete happiness; and the steps that all women must take to undertake their roles.
Yunxian is a quiet, conscientious child who loves her mother and brother, and respects and admires her father.
Sadly, her mother dies from complications from the ancient ritual of foot binding and Yunxian, her brother, her servant and her father’s concubine are sent to live with her grandparents, whom she has never met.
The grandparents are both doctors and they happily take Yunxian and company under their wing.
Yunxian also meets a young midwife-in-training, Meiling, and they quickly become fast friends.
These life-changing events happen quickly early in the book, which then becomes the tale of how this young girl grapples with her ambition of becoming a medical practitioner while balancing the family’s plan for her arranged marriage.
Yunxiang is endearing, amazing and indomitable as she takes on a system in which male doctors, who run the show, hand out diagnoses without actually physically examining female patients, and midwives are treated as the lowest of the low.
Lisa See must have done an enormous amount of research, which results in a writing style that is jam-packed full of detail but that meant I initially found it hard to get into.
Be patient though because you’ll soon get used to it and become enthralled by this thought-provoking and moving story.
• Lady Tan’s Circle Of Friends by Lisa See, published by Simon & Schuster.
Many thanks to Collins Booksellers Shepparton for providing an advance copy.