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Title details for Dreams of Joy by Lisa See - Available

Dreams of Joy

A Novel

#2 in series

by Lisa See
Janet Song
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.
Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime.
Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.
Acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling, Lisa See once again renders a family challenged by tragedy and time, yet ultimately united by the resilience of love.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Shanghai Girls

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 31, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780307878809
      • File size: 452918 KB
      • Duration: 15:43:34

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Janet Song's voice reflects the tone of sorrow in See's emotional sequel to SHANGHAI GIRLS. The story begins as Joy, the daughter of a once-popular poster model, flees her Los Angeles home. She feels responsible for her stepfather's death and was shocked to learn that the woman she believed was her aunt is really her birth mother. Now she seeks her father, an artist whom she's never met, by returning to her ancestral home in Chairman Mao's People's Republic of China. Song depicts Joy's short-lived infatuation with communism and her subsequent discovery of deprivations and illusions. Song also delivers the poignancy of the novel's subplot as Joy's mother follows her daughter to China to ease difficulties and persuade her to return home. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from April 4, 2011
      See revisits Shanghai Girls sisters Pearl and May in this surefire story of life in Communist China. Joy, the daughter Pearl has raised as her own in L.A., learns the truth about her parentage and flees to China to seek out her father and throw herself into the Communist cause, giving See ample opportunity to explore the People's Republic from an unlikely perspective as Joy reconnects with her artist father, Z.G. Li, and the two leave sophisticated Shanghai to go to the countryside, where Z.G., whose ironic view of politics is lost on naïve Joy, has been sent to teach art to the peasants. Joy, full of political vigor, is slow to pick up on the harsh realities of communal life in late 1950s China, but the truth sinks in as Mao's drive to turn China into a major agriculture and manufacturing power backfires. Pearl, meanwhile, leaves L.A. on a perhaps perilous quest to find Joy. As always, See creates an immersive atmosphereâher rural China is far from postcard prettyâbut Joy's education is a stellar example of finding new life in a familiar setup, and See's many readers will be pleased to see the continued development of Pearl and May's relationship. Looks like another hit.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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