Book Review: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See delivers a haunting, lyrical, and deeply intimate novel that explores the complexities of female friendship, loyalty, and betrayal within the rigid confines of 19th-century Chinese society. Through the voice of Lily, now an old woman reflecting on her life, See transports readers into a world shaped by footbinding, arranged marriages, and the secret women’s language of nu shu — a world where women’s voices were hidden, but not silent.
Lily and Snow Flower are paired as “laotong,” lifelong soulmates, and their bond forms the emotional center of the novel. From the joy of shared secrets to the devastating consequences of misunderstanding, their relationship is rendered with painful honesty and heart-wrenching beauty. See captures the way women, despite the limitations imposed upon them, found ways to communicate, support, and even resist through their own private systems of meaning.
The novel’s prose is elegant and restrained, reflecting the cultural precision of the time while evoking raw emotion beneath the surface. The descriptions of footbinding are especially harrowing — a powerful metaphor for the physical and emotional pain women were expected to endure. Yet within that pain, See finds moments of grace and strength.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is not just a historical novel; it is a meditation on love, silence, pride, and regret. It asks what it means to be truly understood — and how the choices we make in the name of survival can echo across a lifetime.
Lisa See’s novel is both heartbreaking and redemptive, a stunning tribute to the resilience of women and the quiet power of friendship. It’s a story that lingers long after the final page.
About Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
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 nineteenth-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.
