Pearl of China: A Novel

Anchee Min

Apr 2010 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

About this ebook

It is the end of the nineteenth century and China is riding on the crest of great change, but for nine-year-old Willow, the only child of a destitute family in the small southern town of Chin-kiang, nothing ever seems to change. Until the day she meets Pearl, the eldest daughter of a zealous American missionary.
Pearl is head-strong, independent and fiercely intelligent, and will grow up to be Pearl S Buck, the Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning writer and humanitarian activist, but for now all Willow knows is that she has never met anyone like her in all her life. From the start the two are thick as thieves, but when the Boxer Rebellion rocks the nation, Pearl's family is forced to leave China to flee religious persecution. As the twentieth century unfolds in all its turmoil, through right-wing military coups and Mao's Red Revolution, through bad marriages and broken dreams, the two girls cling to their lifelong friendship across the sea.
In this ambitious and moving new novel, Anchee Min, acclaimed author of Empress Orchid and Red Azalea, brings to life a courageous and passionate woman who loved the country of her childhood and who has been hailed in China as a modern heroine.

Ratings and reviews

I've read most of Anchee Min's books and was awaiting her next one. Unfortunately compared to the others it was a let down. It couldn't hold my attention. I wouldn't be able to rate it on it's own but it didn't have the drama and depth of quiet suffering of a woman' heart and how that made her stronger for survival that the others had.

I enjoyed reading about the life of Pearl S. Buck and her friendship with Willow Yee. The book is told during Pearl's stay in communist China and follows her friendship with Willow from childhood through adulthood. I really enjoyed the personal and historical stories in the book. I actually checked some of the names and dates and they were correct. I recommend this book.

I enjoyed to book emensly it instilled a craving to read more of the acclaimed author Pearl S. Buck. An amazing fictional telling of her life through the eyes of a character compiled from the many friends of P.S.B. Fast paced and a suiting title for an emensly powerful story. A great ending to a hard beginning.

About the author

Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. At seventeen she was sent to a labor collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress. She moved to the United States in 1984. Her memoir, Red Azalea, was an international bestseller, published in twenty countries.