The valley of amazement

By Amy Tan

Subjects: Art, Shanghai (china), fiction, Family secrets, Fiction, cultural heritage, Large type books, New York Times bestseller, Fiction, historical, general, Courtesans, Chinese americans, fiction, nyt:trade-fiction-paperback=2014-08-03, Kidnapping, New York Times reviewed, San francisco (calif.), fiction, Fiction, Americans, History, Identity (Psychology), Mothers and daughters

Description: Violet Minturn, a half-Chinese/half-American courtesan who deals in seduction and illusion in Shanghai, struggles to find her place in the world, while her mother, Lucia, tries to make sense of the choices she has made and the men who have shaped her.