Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See

The depth of racism in America is what is on offer here, as well as the deep and wide exploitation of women. If either of these things are anathema to you, skip this book. I have independent of this book been reading banned books, and this has a lot of elements that lead to getting on those lists—it negates the message that the United States is a country of equality, where all are treated equally, but where white men are superior. This takes place in a frontier town and follow three different women, all from China coming to AMerica hoping for something better and basically not finding it, but on different paths until they land in the same boat. They are: • Dove: The innocent, bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar who arrives to marry an older merchant. • Petal: A peasant’s daughter with unbound feet who is sold into indentured servitude and sex work. • Moon: An educated, English-speaking beauty married to a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, carrying a limp from a failed childhood foot-binding So they come from wildly different backgrounds but they end up in much the same situation—which they provide support for each other. I like this author and she has a large body of work that is aimed at better understanding cultural backgrounds and what the différences are.