Women of the Silk

Author: Gail Tsukiyama
Published: 1991
Genres: Historical Fiction (China 1919-38)
Rating: 3.5

Summary
Pei is the third of five daughters born to rural parents in China. When the fortune teller reveals that she is unlikely to form a good marriage, she is sent to work in the silk factory to earn money for her family. There she grows up and forges a sisterhood amidst the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in the vast factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.

Review
The novel is well-written, captivating, sometimes sensual, and often haunting. The girls form intense friendships in reaction to the second-class, property-type role they play in their male-dominated society. And, ironically, they end up better off than if they had remained with their families.

Notes
If you are looking for a light read with a happy ending, this isn't it! This book made me very grateful that I wasn't born in China in the early 1900s.