The Bonesetter's Daughter review

 The bone-setter's daughter by Amy Tan

“After all, Bao Bomu says, what is the past but what we choose to remember?”

A beautiful book about hope, love, acceptance and a serious struggle against hardship. It tells the carefully crafted tale of a young woman struggling with life in modern America, and trying to balance that with the culture and stories hidden in her mother's past. A tale that spans three generations.

Tacking family issues is always a tricky one, and with an increasingly ageing population, the question of care for the elderly is never far from the national news. As her mother, LuLing Young, develops dementia, Ruth is forced to balance a full time career, a boyfriend and his children with caring for her mother.

As she discovers more about her mother's past living in the remote village of 'Immortal heart', she begins to understand more about her own childhood and the difficult choices her mother had to make.

There are lots of tales out there about China and the perils and struggles that women have faced in the past. Yet, what sets this apart is the connection that Tan weaves between the characters and the reader. They are by no means perfect, which makes them incredibly relatable.

An exciting and vivid exploration of changing family values and eloquently balancing culture with modern society. This book has its roots firmly planted in an extraordinary tale of survival and honesty.