‘Daughters of the Sun and Moon’ a serious book Worth Rising Early and setting late for to complete
Review by Tina, Library Specialist
Book by Lisa See
“Dove, you, and I lead different lives, but together we are daughters of the sun and moon.”
“I’m of the earth,” she said. “Dove glides through the air like the creature she’s named for. And you shine above us both.”
Lisa See’s latest book Daughters of the Sun and Moon is a historical novel set in Los Angeles, California. It takes place over a dual timeline: From 1870 to 1871 and, looking back on the events, from characters’ perspectives in 1926. In true Lisa See fashion, the novel deals with serious subjects.
At the beginning of the 1870s, the population of Los Angeles was around 5,000, consisting of only 179 Chinese residents: 144 men, 34 women, and one child. The Chinese had little to no rights at the time. They could own no land; were not allowed to marry whites; could not vote; and could not testify against a white person in court. Additionally, Chinese women were bought, sold, and owned by gangs called “tongs,” and by matchmakers fulfilling demands for second wives. There were even cases of girls as young as six-years-old being sold to be mooi-tsais, “little daughters-in-law” or servants. Most of the girls and young women were sold to the tongs by poor families, desperate for money, who didn’t know their daughters were being sold to become “hundred men’s wives.”
The storyline centers on three young women: Moon, Petal, and Dove. Moon is the 26-year-old wife of a Chinese medicine doctor. Petal is an 18-year-old peasant girl whose real name is Sing Ye and is called “Worthless Girl” by her family. She is sold to the Nin Yung Tong in Lo Sang (Los Angeles). Dove (Yut Ho,) is a 17-year-old girl from a family of imperial scholars who is sent to Lo Sang to become the second wife of a well-to-do merchant. Dove and Petal travel from China to Gold Mountain (California) on the same ship, but under very different circumstances.
The three women come together for the first time in Lo Sang when Petal tries to escape from her captors and is beaten for it. Moon, Dove, and Petal all have different needs and quests, but are drawn to each other. They become fast friends. For various reasons, they are not allowed to socialize, but still find ways to communicate with each other, and gradually build friendships that will later save their lives.
Petal leads a hard life at the Midnight Garden, and deals with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, but she never gives up on her dream to become free, and she makes several attempts to escape. Moon and Dove are her lifeline to survival.
Dove has led a sheltered life until she comes to Lo Sang to become Old Man Sing’s second wife. When Dove arrives, she finds everything about her new life to be jarring and completely different from the way she dreamed it would be. Later, her life is turned upside down, and she comes face-to-face with the realization that she and Petal share more in common than she ever thought possible. Dove will need the friendship of Moon and Petal to make it through.
Moon and Gene share a deep love for each other, but Moon is plagued with feelings of inadequacy, stemming from a physical deformity and her seeming inability to provide her husband with a son. She is a very intelligent woman who is able to help her husband with his medical practice, while threading the needle between a Chinese upbringing and western customs. Gene has a remarkable level of respect for Moon, and treats her as his equal in a lot of ways. Their relationship will last a lifetime.
Woven throughout Daughters of the Sun and Moon is the steady drumbeat of inequality, false accusations, and racism. The drumbeat reaches a crescendo on the 24th of October, 1871, when fear, anger, and hatred boil over into a cascade of events that will leave everyone’s lives completely changed. The friendship that Moon, Dove and Petal share will prove to be more important than ever to their survival.
