Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

 

Title:  Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

Author:  Lisa See

Narrated by:  Jennifer Lim and Justin Chien

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 13 hours and 15 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

Do you have a “circle of women?”  Family, friends, coworkers, a book club that support you?  Or would you like to have a supportive group?

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See is the story of a real 15^th century doctor in Chian, Tan Yunxian. The story starts with Yunxian as a small child. She loves her mother, but after her mother dies from a foot infection, she goes to live with her grandparents.  Both of her grandparents are doctors and they train her with their skills.  Being a doctor in the 15^th century is much different than now. The doctor was not allowed to touch any blood or bodily fluids. Male doctors couldn’t even be within sight of their female patients, which is what made it so invaluable to have a female doctor.  Grandmother pairs Yunxian with a young midwife, Meiling. The two have a great friendship that spans their lives through marriage and ups and downs.

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women was a very engaging audiobook – I couldn’t stop listening.  I loved learning about the culture, but I also loved the mystery that was laced throughout the story that Yunxian solved at the end.  It was overall a great story of female friendship.  Jennifer Lim was a great narrator and Justin Chien narrated a short part at the end.

I loved the note at the end of the book that discussed that the real medical book that Tan Yunxian had written had started to go out of print, but her descendant found a copy of it in a private collection and had it reprinted.  This book uses that medical book and the scant details of her life to create a beautiful story. Author Lisa See fills in all of the details and has great descriptions of the era.  I have always enjoyed her books in the past.

The book does go into detail about foot binding.  I remember when I first read about foot binding in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.  From our modern times, it is still hard for me to figure out how binding feet until they rotted could have been considered attractive.  It sounds so painful and hard for a woman to actually walk.  I wonder who thought of this in the first place?  I wonder what beauty regime from now will be looked upon as strange in the future.  Any thoughts?

Favorite Quote:

“For much of my life I felt alone, but over the years a circle of women came to love me and I came to love each of those women in return.”