Book Summary:
\nIn 1948\, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside\, but in rural Shandong\, the wealthy\, la ndowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the el dest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstro ng Di\, who is just a year younger\, learns to hide in plain sight\, and t heir mother &mdash\; abused by the family for failing to birth a boy &mdas h\; finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town\, the rest of the prosperous household flees \, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as use less mouths to feed.
\nWithout an Ang male to punish\, the land-seiz ing cadres choose Hai\, as the eldest child\, to stand trial for her famil y&rsquo\;s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the wors t is yet to come\, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful\, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile jou rney to confront the family that abandoned them.
\nFrom the countrys ide to the bustling city of Qingdao\, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan\, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the pli ght of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of t heir home and the life they&rsquo\;ve known also comes new freedom &mdash\ ; to take hold of their fate\, to shake free of the bonds of their gender\ , and to claim their own story.
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