SOLVED. Fiction novel about Chinese girl

[Tracy]

I must have read this book when I was in high school or early college. Best I can remember, it's a fictional (I think) story of a rural Chinese girl who is sold into servitude. She is taken away from her childhood home to a new city, where she lives in an all female boarding house (of some kind). This occurs during or around WW2, and I remember the lead character's friend strikes up a forbidden romantic relationship with a soldier and gets pregnant. She's later murdered, about 3/4 through. I want to say this story occurs during the Japanese invasion of China?

[Tracy]

Nevermind I found it. WOMEN OF THE SILK.

[El]

Women of the Silk for the click. Glad you found your book, Tracy.