Women of the Silk

author
Gail Tsukiyama

plot synopsis in 50 words or fewer
A quiet, precise story of a young woman sold into the silk trade by her impoverished parents. Set in 1926 in rural China, Pei's story becomes an emblem for the communal, and predominantly female silk-worker's-world of rural China.

what really matters
How the story gently unfolds, layer by layer, until Tsukiyama's writing has crept, undetected, into the corners and crevices of your mind, and you find that no matter what you're doing, you can't escape the veritable universe she's created.

some of the hype
Enlivened with an engrossing richness of detail, Women of the Silk provides a revealing look at the life and customs of China . . . succinct and delicate."
—The New York Times Book Review

"Evocative . . . warm-hearted."
—Washington Post Book World

"A soft ring of feminism . . . languorous, almost dreamlike quality."
—Booklist

"One of the loveliest first novels published this year."
—San Francisco Chronicle

some other things this author has written
The Language of the Threads (Sequel to Women of the Silk; also excellent.)
The Samurai's Garden (Excellent)
NIght of Many Dreams
Dreaming Water (CRAP ALERT! Don't Read)