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SOLD OUT: Author Visit with Lisa See

Friends of the Library

Join us at the Liberty Branch Library for a visit from Lisa See for the launch of her new historical fiction novel "Lady Tan’s Circle of Women" on June 14th.

In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane and Island of the Sea Women, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the strong bonds between women. These books have been celebrated for their authentic, deeply researched, lyrical stories about Chinese characters and cultures.

The conversation will be moderated by Angela An. Angela is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning journalist who anchors Central Ohio’s most-watched morning newscast on WBNS-10TV at 4:25 a.m., 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. She also leads 10TV’s CrimeTracker 10 franchise, Gratitude Project, and the station’s Nextdoor partnership sharing positive stories of people doing good.

TICKETS

$30 - Friends of the Library members

$35 - Non-members

TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT FOR THIS EVENT.

All tickets will include a copy of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women. Books may be picked up in advance at Beanbag Books beginning June 6, and they will be handed out the night of the event at the Liberty Branch Library.

Numbers for signing will be assigned as tickets are purchased on Eventbrite. Backlist titles will also be available for purchase the night of the event, sold by Beanbag Books.

SCHEDULE

When: Wednesday, June 14 @ 6:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:00 p.m.)

Where: Liberty Branch Library, 7468 Steitz Road, Powell, OH 43065

BIO 

Scribner is delighted to announce the publication, this June, of beloved author Lisa See’s captivating and vivid new novel LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN.  Set in 15th century China, LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN is a fictional retelling of the life of one remarkable woman, Tan Yunxian, a female doctor whose book (translated variously as The Sayings of a Woman Doctor, Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor, and The Comments of a Female Physician) contains formulas still used today in traditional Chinese medicine. 

When she was a young girl, Yunxian’s beloved grandmother arranged for her to befriend Meiling, the daughter of the local midwife. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, a relationship of huge importance for both women. LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN traces the lives of these two girls through the traditional stages of womanhood: Milk Days (childhood); Hair Pinning Days (marriageable age); Rice and Salt Days (marriage, childbirth, and motherhood); and Sitting Quietly (old age). Throughout these stages, and against the backdrop of enormous challenges, turbulence, and change, the two marry, have children, and pursue their chosen careers. Yunxian initially has a harder time; as a child of extreme privilege, she is married when she is young and must follow the rules of her new family and mother-in-law, who is less than sanguine about having a female doctor in the family. Meiling, from a humble family, has followed in her mother’s footsteps and is free to practice her trade, but a scandal in her practice means that she must work twice as hard to support her suddenly precarious family.

Through years of intrigue, drama, and trouble, these two women remain touchstones in each other’s lives, until an unspeakable disaster befalls one of them, and threatens not just their friendship, families, and livelihoods, but their lives. The challenges and issues they face—an epidemic, the earliest form of vaccinations, what control a woman can have over her own body—are as immediate and resonate today as they were 500 years ago, while the interest in traditional Chinese medicine is growing more popular by day.

Filled with Lisa See’s luminous writing, deep research, and emphasis on the primacy and importance of female friendship, LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN is a huge treat and an irresistible read for old fans and new readers alike. 

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