The Valley of Amazement

Amy Tan

Nov 2013 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women’s intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.

Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign “Shanghailanders” living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.

A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and stubbornness of love.

Ratings and reviews

So rich in detail, as are all of this author's books, Everytime I open one of Amy Tan's books, I'm transported to a whole new place in time where I'm sure to learn something new about a culture that's unfamiliar to me and wonderfully different from my own. It's fair to say that because of Amy Tan I have beome an advent reader of "women's stories"... Every woman has a story to tell...and every story is important.

Exquisitely layered and woven. Countless threads of contrasting cultures, times, and psyches intertwine in a rich, dimensional tapestry. A tale of human perpetuity, deeply emotional, culturally significant.

I read this with my Mother and it opened so many conversations about Motherhood, love, and loss

About the author

Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life, Saving Fish from Drowning, and two children's books, The Moon Lady and The Chinese Siamese Cat, which was adapted into a PBS television series. Tan was also a coproducer and coscreenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club. Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, and her work has been translated into thirty-five languages. She lives with her husband in San Francisco and New York.