Set in 15th and 16th century China in the inner chambers of wealthy and powerful Chinese homes, Lisa See’s newest novel, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a thoroughly well-researched and eloquently told account of Tan Yunxian, the first known Chinese woman to be a doctor, through the four stages of a Chinese woman’s life, as well as all of the women she crosses paths with as she studies with her grandparents to become a medical practitioner for women and children in her family homes and beyond.

I am an avid reader of Lisa See’s excellent novels, and I think I probably say this with each new release of hers, but this is my favorite yet! She truly gets better and better at her craft. I connected with many characters in this novel and felt they and their relationships were so well-developed. Chinese customs and practices were vividly outlined and I was entirely transported to a distant time and place while reading, as I often am by See’s work. I appreciated the attention given to the lives of women of different classes, occupations, and backgrounds with the inclusion of characters such as Meiling, Miss Zhao, Grandmother Ru and Grandfather Tan, and even an appearance from an Empress. The details of individual cases in Tan Yunxian’s original book served as inspiration for many characters and plot lines entirely imagined by See, and she did an amazing job of tying them together. This was also an excellent book to finish just as Women’s History Month is beginning, with a strong emphasis on the bonds and unique struggles women share even across classes, races, and backgrounds.

This was actually the second attempt I made at reading this novel. The first time, I just don’t think I was in the right headspace for historical fiction, and I remember feeling as though all the research See wanted to include in this novel felt a bit shoehorned in by expositional conversations between characters. However, on my second reading, I felt more like this was just a natural part of these characters’ personalities and dispositions to have conversations like this. I also believe having so many teaching relationships—grandparents to grandchild, mother to daughter, older women to younger women—made the exposition natural and gave the reader many opportunities to learn something new.

As always, an excellent addition to my collection of historical Chinese novels, to my women’s fiction, and to any fiction reader’s library. If you haven’t read this yet, I highly recommend it!