Come by and pick up a copy of our July discussion book
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. Discussion will take place on
Wednesday July 17 at 1 pm by the fireplace in the library.
In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, a city of great wealth and
glamour, the home of millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers,
patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Thanks to the
financial security and material comforts provided by their father's
prosperous rickshaw business, twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her
younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both
sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn't be more
different: Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a
true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and
carefree . . . until the day their father tells them that he has gambled
away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the
girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find
Chinese brides. As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and
May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them
through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal
soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America. In Los
Angeles they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with the
strangers they have married, brushing against the seduction of
Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life even as they fight
against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves
hemmed in by Chinatown's old ways and rules. At its heart, Shanghai
Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends
who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection, but like sisters
everywhere they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love
each other, but each knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the
other the most. Along the way they face terrible sacrifices, make
impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret,
but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold
fast to who they are: Shanghai girls. from the hardcover edition
