Review: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

Title: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

Published: 5th July 2023, Simon & Schuster

Status: Read September 2023 courtesy Simon & Schuster Australia

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My Thoughts:

“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.”

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See is a splendid historical novel inspired by the life of a woman who lived in China during the Ming Dynasty.

Born into privilege, Yunxian’s Tan’s future is predetermined. She will be married off at fifteen to the advantage of her family, expected to bear her husband sons, and uphold the rules and traditions of her new home as befits a lady of status. When the novel opens, Yunxian is just eight years old, and her beloved mother, Respectful Lady, is dying. On her passing, Yunxian is sent to live with her paternal grandparents, where she is absorbed into their busy household. Unusually her Grandmother Ru is a practitioner of fuke – medicine for women, and she offers Yunxian the opportunity to learn from her.

“A thousand years in the past, a thousand years in the future—no matter where you live or how rich or poor you are—the four phases of a woman’s life are the same”

Guided by meticulous research, See sheds light on the lives of women in 15th century China as she leads us through Yunxian’s life, from her Milk (childhood) Days, through to her Hair-Pinning (marriage) Days, Rice and Salt (child-rearing) Days, and into her Sitting Quietly (post-menopause) days. No matter their status, women had very little agency over their lives, and See explores this in the novel by introducing wives and mothers, spinsters and concubines, peasants and servants.

“In our friendship—with all its twists and moments of tumult—was the yin and yang of life.”

For all her privilege, Yunxian’s world is severely confined, both figuratively, and literally given the cloistered living conditions and awful practice of footbinding. Working with her Grandmother however leads her to friendship with Meiling, the daughter of the family’s midwife. See explores the importance of this unusual bond over Yunxian’s lifetime, as well as the transformative nature of relationships she forms with other women.

“Oh, our feet may take different shapes and mark us by class, but we share breasts and the travails of the child palace. We are connected through blood and Blood.”

I learnt so much about the history of traditional Chinese medicine in Lady Tan’s Circle of Women. Adhering to Confucius principles and social mores, Doctors, who were almost exclusively male, treated women with an intermediary from behind a screen, never actually examining their patient. Yunxian eagerly learns medicine from her grandmother, though, with the naivety of privilege and youth, it takes her time to fully appreciate its value. I really enjoyed Yunxian maturing into her role as a doctor, and found the principles of diagnosis and treatment fascinating.

“You must speak if you wish to be heard.”

I found myself utterly absorbed in Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, Yunxian Tan is a compelling character and was obviously a remarkable woman. This is a rich, interesting, and engrossing story.

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