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Peony in Love
A Novel
480 pages
A lush, haunting exploration of lovesickness and the afterlife, where passion defies the boundaries of mortality.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like stepping into a beautifully painted silk scroll that slowly reveals a ghost story. The narrative unfolds at a steady, deliberate pace, immersing you in the sensory richness of seventeenth-century China, from the scent of jasmine to the stifling weight of tradition. It is a deeply melancholic and ethereal experience, steeped in the sorrow of cloistered women whose only escape is through art, literature, and ultimately, death. The prose is lyrical and evocative, guiding the reader through both the vibrant world of the living and the intricate, shadowy bureaucracy of the afterlife. It will delight fans of sweeping historical fiction who crave a haunting, emotionally resonant tale about the enduring power of love and memory.
- Mood
- haunting
- lush
- melancholic
- ethereal
- Tone
- earnest
- sorrowful
- reverent
- romantic
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- female confinement and expression · love transcending death · the power of literature · ancestral duty · grief and longing
- The writing
- Lyrical and sensory-rich, weaving intricate historical details into flowing, emotionally resonant sentences.
- The arc
- Moves from cloistered, naive yearning through devastating loss into a haunting, transcendent acceptance.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love immersive, emotionally sweeping historical fiction that explores women's hidden lives and the mysteries of the afterlife.
Content notes
- starvation/eating disorder (lovesickness)
- death of a main character
- grief
- confinement
About the book
"I finally understand what the poets have written. In spring, moved to passion; in autumn only regret."For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, these lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage. Though raised to be obedient, Peony has dreams of her own.Peony's mother is against her daughter's attending the production: "Unmarried girls should not be seen in public." But Peony's father assures his wife that proprieties will be maintained, and that the women will watch the opera from behind a screen. Yet through its cracks, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man with hair as black as a cave--and is immediately overcome with emotion.So begins Peony's unforgettable journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow--as Lisa See's haunting new novel, based on actual historical events, takes readers back to seventeenth-century China, after the Manchus seize power and the Ming dynasty is crushed. Steeped in traditions and ritual, this story brings to life another time and place--even the intricate realm of the afterworld, with its protocols, pathways, and stages of existence, a vividly imagined place where one's soul is divided into three, ancestors offer guidance, misdeeds are punished, and hungry ghosts wander the earth. Immersed in the richness and magic of the Chinese vision of the afterlife, transcending even death, Peony in Love explores, beautifully, the many manifestations of love. Ultimately, Lisa See's new novel addresses universal themes: the bonds of friendship, the power of words, and the age-old desire of women to be heard.From the Hardcover edition.
Description from Open Library.
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