The Language of Threads

Women of the Silk #2

by Gail Tsukiyama

Readers of Women of the Silk never forgot the moving, powerful story of Pei, brought to work in the silk house as a girl, grown into a quiet but determined young woman whose life is subject to cruel twists of fate, including the loss of her closest friend, Lin. Now we finally learn what happened to Pei, as she leaves the silk house for Hong Kong in the 1930s, arriving with a young orphan, Ji Shen, in her care. Her first job, in the home of a wealthy family, ends in disgrace, but soon Pei and Ji Shen find a new life in the home of Mrs. Finch, a British ex-patriate who welcomes them as the daughters she never had. Their idyllic life is interrupted, however, by war, and the Japanese occupation. Pei is once again forced to make her own way, struggling to survive and to keep her extended family alive as well. In this story of hardship and survival, Tsukiyama paints a portrait of women fighting the forces of war and time to make a life for themselves.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, China, Asian Literature, Asia, Historical, Japan

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 1999

About the author

Born to a Chinese mother and a Japanese father in San Francisco, Gail Tsukiyama now lives in El Cerrito, California. Her novels include Women of the Silk (1991), The Samurai's Garden (1995), Night of Many Dreams (1998), The Language of Threads (1999), Dreaming Water (2002), and The Street of a Thousand Blossoms (2007).

Reviews

[iptsm]

Mükemmel. Pei'nin hayatina taniklik ediyorsunuz. Güçlü Pei. Dirayetli, yılmaz. Baslardaki ele avuca sigmaz enerjik kiz nasil da sakin, olgun bir kadina donusuyor. Ara ara tuylerimi diken diken eden anlar oldu. Iki kitaptir onlarla yasiyorum. Pei, Moi ile vedalastiginda ben de Pei ve digerleriyle vedalastim sanki. Harika bir kitap.