Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Janet Song
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By:
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Lisa See
About this listen
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.
Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness.
In 19th-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu ("women's writing"). Some girls were paired with laotongs, "old sames", in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.
With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become "old sames" at the tender age of seven. As the years pass, through famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.
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Critic reviews
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, 2006
“Lisa See has written her best book yet. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is achingly beautiful, a marvel of imagination of a real and secret world that has only recently disappeared. It is a story so mesmerizing the pages float away and the story remains clearly before us from beginning to end.” –Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club and The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings
“I was mesmerized by this wondrous book–the story of a secret civilization of women, who actually lived in China not long ago. . . . Magical, haunting fiction. Beautiful.” –Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Fifth Book of Peace
“Only the best novelists can do what Lisa See has done, to bring to life not only a character but an entire culture, and a sensibility so strikingly different from our own. This is an engrossing and completely convincing portrayal of a woman shaped by suffering forced upon her from her earliest years, and of the friendship that helps her to survive.” –Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha
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Yiyun Li is the winner of the prestigious Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. The Vagrants, set in 1979 China, is the story of those affected by the execution of a 28-year-old counterrevolutionary. Though suffering, Li's characters nevertheless struggle to maintain hope amid cruel circumstance.
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Lovely prose, good story, deadly narration
- By Athene on 05-10-13
By: Yiyun Li
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Three Souls
- A Novel
- By: Janie Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this.... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls - stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun - who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.
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Very different but compelling point of view.
- By Kevin Wickline on 06-08-23
By: Janie Chang
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Flame Tree Road
- By: Shona Patel
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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India, 1870s. In a tiny village where society is ruled by a caste system and women are defined solely by marriage, young Biren Roy dreams of forging a new destiny. When his mother suffers the fate of widowhood - shunned by her loved ones and forced to live in solitary penance - Biren devotes his life to effecting change.
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Riveting Love Story
- By Granny on 01-15-20
By: Shona Patel
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The Hundred Wells of Salaga
- A Novel
- By: Ayesha Harruna Attah
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that turns her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the willful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father's court. These two women's lives converge as infighting among Wurche's people threatens the region, during the height of the slave trade at the end of the nineteenth century. The Hundred Wells of Salaga offers a remarkable view of slavery and how the scramble for Africa affected the lives of everyday people.
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The Song Poet
- A Memoir of My Father
- By: Kao Kalia Yang
- Narrated by: Kao Kalia Yang
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until one day a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good.
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Beautiful, full of sadness, power, and heart.
- By Melissa L. Magana on 04-27-17
By: Kao Kalia Yang
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Peony
- A Novel of China
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Peony is sold into a rich Chinese household as a bondmaid - an awkward role in which she is more a servant, but less a daughter. As she grows into a lovely, provocative young woman, Peony falls in love with the family's only son. However, tradition forbids them to wed. How she resolves her love for him and her devotion to her adoptive family unfolds in this profound tale, based on true events in China over a century ago.
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Jews in China
- By Jean on 04-22-12
By: Pearl S. Buck
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City of Tranquil Light
- A Novel
- By: Bo Caldwell
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Will Kiehn is seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest when, having felt a call from God, he travels to the vast North China Plain in the early twentieth century. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine. They soon find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year-old dynasty that plunges the country into decades of civil war.
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What We're Here For
- By Annette on 10-14-10
By: Bo Caldwell
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The Town House
- By: Norah Lofts
- Narrated by: Juliet Prague, Martyn Read
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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"It was in the first week of October in the year 1391 that I first came face to face with the man who owned me… the man whose lightest word was to us, his villeins, weightier than the King’s law or the edicts of our Holy Father…” So began the story of Martin Reed - a serf whose resentment of the automatic rule of his feudal lord finally flared into open defiance.
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Another winner by Norah Lofts
- By Bird Lady 147 on 10-03-17
By: Norah Lofts
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Monticello
- A Daughter and Her Father; A Novel
- By: Sally Cabot Gunning
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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After the death of her beloved mother, Martha Jefferson spent five years abroad with her father, Thomas Jefferson, on his first diplomatic mission to France. Now, at 17, Jefferson's bright, handsome eldest daughter is returning to the lush hills of the family's beloved Virginia plantation, Monticello. While the large, beautiful estate is the same as she remembers, Martha has changed. The young girl who sailed to Europe is now a woman with a heart made heavy by a first love gone wrong.
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Very good Narrator !
- By Roxie Reed on 05-23-24
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Anna the Prophetess
- By: H. B. Moore
- Narrated by: Luone Ingram
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Anna the Prophetess is the dramatic chronicle of the only woman to be called prophetess in the scriptures. When Anna’s great niece Julia is exiled to Jerusalem as punishment for her refusal to marry a man old enough to be her father, Anna shares the story of her early days of courtship with her husband. Although Julia’s parents admonished her to observe firsthand how lonely Anna’s life is, Julia instead discovers that her great-aunt’s life is far from lonely - it is full of love, peace, and incredible faith.
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It Kept Me Listening
- By cgashley on 02-16-19
By: H. B. Moore
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The Wife's Tale
- A Personal History
- By: Aida Edemariam
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this indelible memoir of the life of her remarkable 95-year-old grandmother, Guardian journalist Aida Edemariam tells the story of modern Ethiopia - a nation that underwent a tumultuous transformation from feudalism to monarchy to Marxist revolution to democracy, over the course of one century. Filled with a vivid cast of characters - emperors and empresses, priests and scholars, monks and nuns, archbishops and slaves, Marxist revolutionaries and wartime double agents - The Wife's Tale introduces a woman both imperious and vulnerable.
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A Look At Ethiopia
- By Jean on 07-15-18
By: Aida Edemariam
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Women of the Bible
- Jael's Story
- By: Ann Burton
- Narrated by: Effie Johnson
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ann Burton - best-selling author of Rahab's Story - pens a sweeping historical novel about the Biblical heroine who risks all by wielding a tent peg and mallet. In this compelling tale of faith, courage, and romance, Jael boldly seizes a pivotal opportunity to free Israelites - and herself - from years of oppression.
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Easy to place yourself in the story!
- By CANDICE W. on 08-07-24
By: Ann Burton
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Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
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Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
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Great story...awful narration
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Touching, sad, and enjoyable
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***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
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terrible reader , not very coherent book
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Narration is terrible
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Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower and asks the gods for forgiveness.
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So so
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The Moon in the Palace
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There is no easy path for a woman aspiring to power. A concubine at the palace learns quickly that there are many ways to capture the emperor's attention. Many paint their faces white and style their hair attractively, hoping to lure in the One Above All with their beauty. Some present him with fantastic gifts, such as jade pendants and scrolls of calligraphy, while others rely on their knowledge of seduction to draw his interest. But young Mei knows nothing of these womanly arts, yet she will give the emperor a gift he can never forget.
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In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
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In Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama takes listeners back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amid the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.
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Another beautiful historical fiction!
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The story of Tzu Hsi is the story of the last empress in China. In this audiobook, Pearl S. Buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rules during a time of intense turbulence. Tzu Hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the Imperial dynasty. According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of 17 to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort.
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The Last Empress and the Destruction of China
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The Elephant Chaser's Daughter
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Saved by her grandmother from being killed at birth for being a female, and abandoned by her mother at a young age, Shilpa faces the formidable constraints placed on her by her family and the village elders. The values with which she is being brought up in a school for poor children started by a philanthropist come in conflict with those of her family, tearing each other apart. Just when all seems settled, an unforeseen death under mysterious circumstances shatters whatever stability remains in her life.
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Beautifully written!
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Henna House
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Yemen in 1920: After passage of the Orphan's Decree, any unbetrothed Jewish child left orphaned will be instantly adopted by the local Muslim community. With her parents' health failing, and no spousal prospects in sight, Adela Damari's situation looks dire until her uncle arrives from a faraway city, bringing with him a cousin and aunt who introduce Adela to the powerful rituals of henna tattooing.
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historical fiction, read like an autobiography.
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What listeners say about Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ann A
- 07-23-12
Wonderful!!
This was a beautiful story about a friendship of two young girls from different backgrounds and all the things they went through growing up. I enjoyed this book so much it was well written. This is the third book I have read from this author and I must say she has become one of my favorites!! A great book!!!!
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4 people found this helpful
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Story
- Kevin
- 08-11-11
It`s okaaaay
It really is just a story about friendship. I really enjoyed the glimpse into historical Chinese culture, and the graphic description of foot binding was chilling. But I wanted more to happen with the plot between the two women. It definitely wasn`t near as good as Memoirs of a Geisha.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Vanda F. Wadsworth
- 05-12-10
Good, but somewhat dissapointing
Lisa See's memoir was interesting but with too many verbose, repetitious, boring stretches. Books about Chinese culture have always interested me but I had never heard of the lautong (sp) relationship between girls. It bothered me because it seemed to encourage lesbianism. I also didn't care for the narrator. The way she clipped words was unnatural and she made everything sound too melodramatic. If you want a good book about Chinese life, I would recommend one written by Pearl Buck.
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1 person found this helpful
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Performance
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Story
- Elizabeth
- 01-29-20
Spotty recording
It jumps at the end of two different chapters so far in the recording. I’ve tried rewinding multiple times. Very frustrating to be missing chunks of the story.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Jessica
- 11-24-06
Excellent in all aspects
I enjoyed listening to this book and have recommended it to many people. It was a good book to begin with and the narrorator made it even better. Not only is the story intriguing but the historical context is interesting and lends itself well to the plot. 5 stars!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- CFH
- 01-31-07
Great foot-binding documentary; so-so story
This book conveys a most convincing portrait of the cultural roles of Chinese women of the era. The description of the foot-binding process itself is excruciatingly detailed and the social and cultural ramifications of bound feet illuminating. The emphasis on bearing sons, the various hierarchies of obedience and duty, and the overarching "otherness" of the culture are very well represented. I was particularly struck by the some of the expectations of the after-life of which I was unaware.
Fortunately, all of the above was more than enough to maintain my interest throughout the book. To me, the story itself was disappointing. Possibly this was due to my own inability to sifficently leave behind my own notions of common sense and human decency and let myself float into a world view that so thoroughly debased women, independent thought, and, all too often, any notion of kindness.
The narration was probably very much in keeping with the tone of the book but I couldn't help being reminded of the lyrics of the song "Don't cry for me, Argentina." This narration could be heard as the antithesis of that sentiment. The narrator's tone of voice is one of almost totally unrelieved misery.
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Overall
- Joyce
- 01-07-07
a love story
I enjoyed this book very much. It is a story of a very special relationship that begins between two young chinese girls when they are seven years old. This relationship continues throughout their lives and is documented by words written on a fan. The story is a good one and is set in the historical context of 19th century china, a time when a young girl's feet are bound at age six, and she must forever walk on feet no larger than a thumb. Crippled, she rarely leaves her home, spending most of her life in an upstairs room shared with other women in her family. She grows up understanding that her only value is in her ability to bear sons for her husband's family. The story follows the lives of both women whose lives take different paths. A good listen, beautifully narrated.
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- Joe
- 08-26-20
friendship
a story of the enduring love between 2 women and how powerful and essential that relationship is for all women
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- MEC
- 02-09-19
great story teller
I really liked the book, have become a big fan of Lisa See. her books are captivating, and she really paints the picture for you, and I have learned alot about Chinese culture . this is the 3rd book I've read by her...would recommend them all.
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- aaron whitesel
- 05-13-22
Beautifully Written and Narrated
Was immediately gripped by this book and could not stop listening. The characters really came to life . The most memorable part for me was when beautiful moon died from the bee sting. The entire book had me hanging on every detail and event. really enjoyed listening instead of reading.
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