--- product_id: 491222226 title: "Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel" brand: "lisa see" price: "$63.33" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/491222226-lady-tans-circle-of-women-a-novel store_origin: US region: United States of America --- # Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel **Brand:** lisa see **Price:** $63.33 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel by lisa see - **How much does it cost?** $63.33 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/491222226-lady-tans-circle-of-women-a-novel) ## Best For - lisa see enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted lisa see brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!* From “one of those special writers capable of delivering both poetry and plot” ( The New York Times Book Review ) an immersive historical novel inspired by the true story of a woman physician in 15th-century China—perfect for fans of Lisa See’s classics Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient. From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus , they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom. But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Dimensions | 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches | | Edition | First Edition | | Isbn 10 | 1982117087 | | Isbn 13 | 978-1982117085 | | Item Weight | 2.31 pounds | | Language | English | | Print Length | 368 pages | | Publication Date | June 6, 2023 | | Publisher | Scribner | ## Images ![Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81kXVrqh+aL.jpg) ![Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81+RrOput9L.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A wonderful story! *by on Reviewed in the United States August 31, 2026* Engaging from the first page to the last, this is the story of a girl born in China to a privileged family. It is a wonderfully simple and beautiful narration of her life, marriage, profession and all the hardships she endured as a woman. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Womens Chinese medicine *by on Reviewed in the United States May 20, 2024* This is the story of Ancient China’s culture and social customs.According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman” but in this story Yinxian, born into an elite family is raised by her grandparents to be of use. There are only a handful of female doctors in China and Yunxian’s grandmother is one of them and teaches her the pillars of Chinese medicine. She teaches her to work with female patients, which is something a man can never do.The story is how Yunxian was brought up, her arranged marriage, her bound feet, her struggles to birth a son and the story of women helping other women.It is about love, friendship, grief, the desperation of females during this dynasty and her remarkable life.I enjoyed this story. I love to be fully engrossed in a story so rich in history and language. The beginning is a bit slow, as the world building and the young age of Yunxian takes up the first 25% of the book, but it shortly thereafter moves into more depth and dimension while showing us the experiences in which she is living.This is a highly character driven and detail oriented story. The characters are mostly women, and their connections during the best and worst times of their lives. The action takes forefront in the later part of the book. It is well researched, immersive in historical information and vividly describes the people, clothes, food, tea, and atmosphere, living environments. The relationship to their men and children and especially to each other, which I enjoyed very much. She lived an adventure that was very interesting to read. It makes us enjoy what we have and who we are as women now. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1469AD woman doctor begins medical training age 8 publishes patient records LadyTan'sCircleOfWomen *by on Reviewed in the United States May 11, 2025* Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor by Tan Yunxian 1511AD published when Dr Tan was 50yo: 31 patient case studies with symptoms, examination, treatment recipes referencing original texts and patient outcome. Lorraine Wilcox (English Translator of Chinese medical history) with two prefaces and three postscripts by relatives of Dr Tan offer the heart of fictional biography by Lisa See.Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel by Lisa See is a true story from 1469AD when Tan [last name, family name] Yunxian [LoyalVirtue] was 8yo and began her medical training. The history was deeply researched during the pandemic and culturally contextualizes the patient case histories in the life arc of women of the MingDynasty. Dr Tan is a descendant of both Imperial Scholars, literati male doctors, and Hereditary traditional physicians, women educated pragmatically in female and pediatric medicine.A criminal trial involving a woman of the Inner Chambers reveals the formal approach to murder. The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee details a criminal justice system practiced since the T'ang Dynasty (618 - 907). The Judge Dee mysteries were translated from Chinese by 20thC Dutch diplomat RobertVanGulik (1910–67). Author Lisa See faithfully reproduces the Ming Dynasty autopsy and murder investigation. There are significant social and financial consequences of contact with a dead body, even merely viewing or touching blood for a woman is considered scandalous. A midwife is called to publicly testify. Midwives are known to touch blood in catching babies and to assist autopsy. To speak in public of such shocking behavior is another.Dr Tan Yunxian is constrained by elite position, precarity of bound feet with withered lower limbs, arranged marriage age 15, social control by gossip and innuendo in the women's Inner Chambers, absolute control by her mother-in-law who forbids her to practice medicine.Alcoholism associated with parasitic worm infection reveals its infective presence to a keen medical observer. Dr Tan Yunxian responds when finally appealed to for help. Dr Tan diagnoses and treats her mother-in-law's ascariasis (roundworm infection) thus saving her life.Dr Tan's natal grandparents are both doctors from a celebrated line of Imperial scholars and Hereditary physicians. Grandparents teach Yunxian to trust her senses: look see hear touch smell. Read. Consult with others. Yunxian trusts Grandmother Ru for Hereditary medical advice and Dr Tan's own father, a respected Prefectural Judge for Confucian legal advice. Dr Tan is provided education and family wisdom: Pause and think before deciding how best to proceed.Tan Yunxian has access to her literati grandfather's library of medical texts, accumulated medical knowledge beginning with the Han Dynasty 206BC-220AD. Dr Tan secretly begins to practice medicine and keeps notes of each patient seen to develop her own knowledge.Tan Yunxian's best friend from childhood is Meiling. Meiling is learning midwifery from her mother.Meiling is a friend match chosen by Yunxian's grandmother Doctor Ru for complementary personality to balance Yunxian's tendency to slip into morose self-pity and rumination out of boredom. Meiling has freedom as she works with her mother traveling throughout the city attending to pregnancies and deliveries. Meiling shares vivid descriptions of the outside world as a medically trained observer. The two friends balance each other.Both Yunxian and Meiling are born Water Snake year but of distinct social classes: Yunxian is elite with bound feet, from a family of Imperial scholars and Hereditary doctors, Meiling is illiterate, fatherless, has large unbound feet, is apprentice midwife to her mother Midwife Shi and working class.Yunxian can read and write but is confined to the Inner Chambers, women's quarters of the family compound; Meiling can travel freely throughout the empire as her mother's apprentice midwife and observes working class women who suffer physical and emotional distress beyond childbearing.Yunxian's beautiful mother Respectful Lady believes wealth and social position render her and her family protected from infection. Respectful Lady refuses to request the services of the itinerant insufflation doctor. Dr Tan's two older brothers die of smallpox in childhood. Insufflation variolation, a form of vaccination against small pox, became mandated in China by the 1700s about the time of the American Revolution 300 years later. Respectul Lady dies age 28 of gangrene.Dr Tan and Meiling become pregnant concurrently. In their 6 month, both are summoned to the Forbidden City to treat women of the Imperial Palace, specifically the Empress who is pregnant. Tan Yunxian and Meiling are to attend to The Compassionate One's pregnancy, month of seclusion, labor and delivery, and month of recovery. Guanyin the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion is embodied in the Empress.After menopause, Dr Tan matures beyond her prejudices as regards status, propriety, acceptable social behavior as she ascends to responsibility for the family Inner Chambers. The consequences for the entire Tan family in both the novel and elaborated in the appendices is fascinating. If one member of a family is accused of political treachery, the entire family is purged. Dr Tan Yunxian's published case histories disappeared from public view for 500 years with only one copy of the second edition sequestered in an antiquarian library in Beijing. Lisa See and translator Lorraine Wilcox describe their journey of discovery in interview for The Lost Women of Science, Scientific American series. Hereditary Dr Tan Yunxian died age 96.Dr Tan's history is so engaging I could not stop reading and fell asleep in a chair. Next morning I immediately dove in again.Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See 5* cultural revelations are thought and discussion provoking ideas about social status, politics, fame celebrity, punishments for deception lies greed and murder, bias, prejudice, money, education, scientific thought, legal trial procedure established by Han Dynasty [206BC-220AD], and a woman earning her way in the world through meaningful work effort and service to other women.Gripping nonstop reading.I am reading on democracy and noticed Abigail Adams wife of John Adams performed the same services as Dr Tan did for her family. John Adams (1735-1826) Second President of the United States from 1797 to 1801 DVD PaulGiamatti LauraLinney imdb 8.4/10 38,000 ratings 7part miniseries based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. Abigail Adams had herself and their children variolated to protect from smallpox. Miniseries spans the Boston Massacre 1770 to John Adams' death on the same day as Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1826 the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.Infectious diseases decimate humankind throughout history.Vaccines offer prevention for avoidable human suffering. ## Frequently Bought Together - Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel - The Women: A Novel - James: A Novel --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.us/products/491222226-lady-tans-circle-of-women-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.us/products/491222226-lady-tans-circle-of-women-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart United States of America* *Store origin: US* *Last updated: 2026-10-16*