The Original Girly...

I don't read "girly books".

Romance, mushy stuff... it's really not for me. So I was a tiny bit hesitant when I picked up this book about a life-long bond between two women in a vague time period (19th century) China.

But WOW. It rocked my socks.

It's historical fiction, and brilliantly written. The story begins with Lily and Snow Flower as young girls from different cultures who are brought together through the custom of becoming "old sames", an arranged contract between women to become, and stay lifelong friends.

Together they experience foot binding, their own arranged marriages, and childbirth... all while communicating in a secret language on a silk fan passed between them.

The undercurrents of this book were complex enough to make the commentary about status, culture, war, sexism, family, and sacrifice in Nineteenth century China.

And it's not a mushy girl book!!