This book follows Shanghai Girls and is set in the late 1950's in Communist China. It hasn't been 10 years yet and Mao is still in charge of China. June has traveled to China to join the people in creating the perfect society. She is very badly informed for this terrible decision and is quickly in over her head. She does find her real father, ZG, an artist who is in trouble with the authorities. They go to the countryside to teach peasants to paint. June's mother, Pearl (who is really her aunt), follows her to China. She can see what is real in China as she lived there before the revolution. Will she be able to save her daughter? Will June be able to discern what she is seeing? Will they be able to leave China? This is a gripping portrait of the early days of the new China. It is best to start with the first book, but that way, it is a double treat.
No comments:
Post a Comment