Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See ~ 368 pages ~ to be published on June 6, 2023 by Scribner

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.

---

What I Thought:

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC!*

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. 🥰

I have been a fan of Lisa See’s work for years, so when I got the opportunity to read Lady Tan’s Circle of Women early, I jumped at the chance. This was a moving and beautifully written story. I did not know very much about Chinese traditional medicine before reading this novel, and I found it fascinating.

This book is based upon the real historical figure, Tan Yunxian, and the book she wrote entitled Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor. I really had no idea that women were even allowed to practice medicine in 15th century China (it definitely wasn’t widely accepted), but the fact that she wrote a book that is still referenced today is nothing short of amazing to me. In the historical note, Lisa See does say that not a lot is known about Tan Yunxian’s life, but she pulled all that she could and pieced together a life that feels incredibly real in this story.

The sheer amount of research that See did for this novel is so impressive. I loved learning about Chinese history, medicine, houses, clothing, and occupations in this novel. It was so richly described that I really could envision myself there. The way she described the Forbidden City and the gardens were so accurate, based upon my experiences on my trip to China in 2019. Anytime a historical fiction novel is so obviously well researched without it feeling like you are reading a textbook, I find it to be incredibly impressive.

I loved the friendship between Yunxian and Meiling. Their love for each other overcame so many hardships. Growing up in entirely different life stations, and even being apart from each other for years, did not dim the love they had for one another. That is the kind of friendship that we all aspire to have.

The parts of this book that were hard for me to read were the medical bits. They were well written, but they were emotionally hard to read, especially the parts about foot binding. I am so glad that this practice was finally dissolved in China, but hearing the descriptions of the process and the feelings surrounding it in this novel were fascinating and simultaneously grotesque. The medical practices are so different than what we are used to in modern American society, so that part of this book was fascinating to me.

This is one of those books that is going to stick with me for a long time. It was beautifully written and incredibly moving. I love learning more about my daughter’s birth country, and about the cultural history behind modern day China.

---

My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave Lady Tan’s Circle of Women 5 Stars!

---

Are you interested in learning more about this book? Check out the links below!

Lisa See’s Website

Lisa See’s Instagram

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women on Goodreads

Order Lady Tan’s Circle of Women on Amazon

---

Have you read any other Lisa See novels? Which ones are your favorites? Do you know much about traditional Chinese medicine, or Chinese history? Let’s chat in the comments!

Love and happy reading,

Whitney