Shannon McKenna Schmidt at Shelf Awareness named Hilary Spurling’s biography of Pearl S. Buck one of the top ten books of the year. (You can find the list here.)
One of the most exciting things about taking over Moyer Bell’s backlist has been discovering how incredible Pearl S. Buck’s novels are–and not just The Good Earth. Her novels (or at least the ones I’ve read so far) tend to be set in China about a hundred years ago, and do an incredible job showing a culture that is so removed from ours in time, place, and many other things. Buck’s novels tend to focus on women and their often very difficult lot in life, and usually feature a missionary or someone else from the west who, in spite of living in China, cannot bridge the gap between cultures–what’s more, they sometimes don’t even realize how vast the gap is.
If you liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, I would absolutely recommend picking up one of Pearl S. Buck’s novels.
Margot
Tags: Hilary Spurling, Pearl S. Buck in China, shelf awareness