“Always remember your place in the world…we women exist to give a man heirs and feed, clothe, and amuse him. Never forget that.”

When the book opens, these words are spoken by Respectful Lady, Yunxian’s mother, as part of Yunxian’s education. She is eight years old, she already has bound feet, she has never left the inner chamber of her home, she will marry at 15 and will then begin bearing children, male heirs especially. That is her destiny in the elite realm of the Ming dynasty in 1469.

But when her mother dies that same year, Yunxian and her brother (birthed by her father’s concubine) are taken to their grandparents, doctors who teach her their generations-long practices, and in particular, her grandmother Ru who specializes in women. 

So we know early on that Yunxian will possess knowledge and special skills, and the story revolves around the juxtaposition between using these skills and adhering to tradition, especially once married and living within the expectations and rigidity of her in-laws’ compound. 

It also revolves around an unlikely friendship with Meiling, a girl her own age and the daughter of a practicing midwife. They are many levels apart in status and ordinarily would never be able to interact, but Grandmother Ru has her reasons for bringing them together. 

I liked this story well enough to read the book in a few days, often late into the night. Yet, it’s not without flaws. Like many novels of historical fiction, it contains sections that feel like research was forced into the story, with mini lectures on Chinese history and culture spliced in and bogging down the narrative or creating awkward dialogue that becomes a vessel for background information. Also, they often feel heavy-handed in messaging. 

But overall, I liked the book and appreciated that its premise comes from a real person, Tan Yunxian, who published her medical notes in 1511 as a book titled Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor. The book survives today.

I liked her previous book Island of the Sea Women a bit better than this one, but I liked this one more than Snowflower and the Secret Fan.

4⭐️