NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD - A "haunting, magical, and absolutely impossible to forget" (The Boston Globe) novel about the unique friendship between two women in nineteenth-century China, from the acclaimed author of Shanghai Girls

"A marvel of imagination . . . so mesmerizing the pages float away and the story remains clearly before us from beginning to end."--Amy Tan, author of The Backyard Bird Chronicles

"[A] marvelous narrative . . . a timeless portrait of a contentious, full-blooded female friendship."--Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice)

"An achingly beautiful, understated, and absorbing story of love . . . evokes the work of Jane Austen."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, or "old same," in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she has written a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men.

As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on the fan and compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. They both endure the agony of footbinding and together reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared 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 deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.