As a child, Ruth was subjected to her mother's notions about curses and ghosts and her repeated threats to kill herself. But now LuLing Young seems happy. Struggling to hold onto the past, LuLing begins to write all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. When Ruth discovers the papers, she finds each page reveals secrets about a mother's heart that LuLing cannot tell her daughter.
"The Bonesetter's Daughter dramatically chronicles the tortured, devoted relationship between LuLing Young and her daughter Ruth. . . . A strong novel, filled with idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery."
-Los Angeles Times

"TAN AT HER BEST . . . Rich and hauntingly forlorn . . . The writing is so exacting and unique in its detail."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"For Tan, the true keeper of memory is language, and so the novel is layered with stories that have been written down-by mothers for their daughters, passing along secrets that cannot be said out loud but must not be forgotten."
-The New York Times Book Review

"AMY TAN HAS] DONE IT AGAIN. . . . The Bonesetter's Daughter tells a compelling tale of family relationships; it layers and stirs themes of secrets, ambiguous meanings, cultural complexity and self-identity; and it resonates with metaphor and symbol."
-The Denver Post