Ombres chinoises

Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father - the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love.

Another Lisa See book I devoured. While Shanghai Girls brought the reader into a world that doesn't exist anymore and the Chinatown of L.A. during the Depression, this book takes those same characters back to China. I loved learning about life in China during communism - the years after the Revolution and the effect of Mao's edicts. I loved seeing the contrast between the city of Shanghai and the countryside, it added an extra dimension to the story. In addition, the story is compelling and the characters well written. I'll remain a fan of Lisa See for years, most likely