The publisher's summary:
Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.
This story is intense and emotional. Hai, Di and their mother went through so much trauma during these years it's amazing that they were able to forge a life for themselves afterwards. Hai almost died when Mao's guards grabbed her and denounced her among her neighbors. She was struck another of times and spent hours kneeling in the town square. She was an Ang and had to be punished for coming from a privileged family. The guards wanted to know where her parents and grandparents were because they were the real targets. Unfortunately, the family deserted her mother and sister and ran for safety from the Communists. Hai suffered lifelong pain from just this one experience.
Di was more adaptable and she handled the loss of food and shelter much better. However, their mother was stuck in the culture in which her grandmother was raised. She believed that she must be subservient to all of the men and elders in the family. Mom never was able to overcome this training she received from childhood. That said, Mom was incredibly resilient. Mom made sure her daughters would have good careers and husbands. That is what she fought for. The struggles of these ladies showcase the lengths that people will go through to be free.
Along the way, the ladies lived with neighbors, refugee camps and in a box. They've used all the legal means available to them in order to travel to Taiwan. It took years. Also, I learned alot about the adverse history between mainland China and Taiwan. The book is a good primer on their current relations.
I loved this heart-wrenching story. I highly recommend the book and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars. I think it will be in my top ten books of the year.
