It’s another example of how a thread of Chinese history can become a rich tapestry in the hands of a master storyteller.Īn opera titled The Peony Pavilion, written by Tang Xianzu in 1598, became the object of obsession with a number of teenage girls who had read it (they were forbidden to see it). The new Peony in Love is a fictionalized version of factual events. Thus she segued to the best-selling Snow Flower and the Secret Fan in 2005, set in 19th century China. Her real passion, though, lies not in thrillers but in finding bits of “hidden” Chinese history and bringing them to life. (“I have about 400 relatives in Los Angeles alone.”) The result was the memoir On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family, a best-seller and a New York Times Notable Book in 1995.Ī three-book mystery series set in contemporary China followed - Flower Net, The Interior and Dragon Bones. She grew up in Los Angeles listening to family stories told by her grandmother and great-aunt - tales that focused on her Chinese heritage.Īs an adult, those stories inspired her to research her family history, interviewing many of her older family members.

The story is partly a coming-of-age tale and partly a cultural history. Peony follows the travails of an independent-minded 15-year-old living in a 17th century Chinese society in which women have scant value. “Apart from people wanting to know more about (historical details) in 17th century China, such as foot binding and the role of women, they want to go back to their own emotional experiences, which they’re kind of reliving by reading the book,” she said. The author was describing the mood she’s finding among her audiences at bookstores around the country as she continues a 39-city tour for her latest novel, Peony in Love (Random House, $23.95, 304 pages). “People want to talk about the experience of love and how it changes your life, and how the nature of love itself changes over time,” Lisa See said on the phone last week.

Peony in Love by Lisa See