The Bonesetter's Daughter

Amy Tan

Feb 2001 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

A mother and daughter find what they share in their bones in this compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Backyard Bird Chronicles.

Ruth Young and her widowed mother have always had a difficult relationship. But when she discovers writings that vividly describe her mother’s tumultuous life growing up in China, Ruth discovers a side of LuLing that she never knew existed.

Transported to a backwoods village known as Immortal Heart, Ruth learns of secrets passed along by a mute nursemaid, Precious Auntie; of a cave where dragon bones are mined; of the crumbling ravine known as the End of the World; and of the curse that LuLing believes she released through betrayal. Within the calligraphied pages awaits the truth about a mother's heart, secrets she cannot tell her daughter, yet hopes she will never forget...

Conjuring the pain of broken dreams and the power of myths, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes.

Ratings and reviews

One of the few writers I ever give 5 stars to. She tells a marvelous story, and draws you in. You know her characters. I honestly don't think you'll be disappointed

It was a very interesting and insightful book. I loved the history and the generations that go throughout the book. I also liked the sort of supernatural element to their stories. Loved it!!

Amy Tan takes the reader on a wonderful lesson of history and culture.

About the author

Amy Tan is the bestselling author of Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir, 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, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, 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.