Dreams of Joy
Jun 2011 · A&C Black
4.4star
14 reviewsreport
Ebook
368
Pages
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About this ebook
Nineteen-year-old Joy Louie has run away from her home in 1950s America to start a new life in China. Idealistic and unafraid, she believes that Chairman Mao is on the side of the people, despite what her family keeps telling her. How can she trust them, when she has just learned that her parents have lied to her for her whole life, that her mother Pearl is really her aunt and that her real father is a famous artist who has been living in China all these years?
Joy arrives in Green Dragon Village, where families live in crowded, windowless huts and eke out a meagre existence from the red soil. And where a handsome young comrade catches her eye... Meanwhile, Pearl returns to China to bring her daughter home - if she can. For Mao has launched his Great Leap Forward, and each passing season brings ever greater hardship to cities and rural communes alike. Joy must rely on her skill as a painter and Pearl must use her contacts from her decadent childhood in 1930s Shanghai to find a way to safety, and a chance of joy for them both.
Haunting, passionate and heartbreakingly real, this is the unforgettable new novel by the internationally acclaimed Lisa See.
Joy arrives in Green Dragon Village, where families live in crowded, windowless huts and eke out a meagre existence from the red soil. And where a handsome young comrade catches her eye... Meanwhile, Pearl returns to China to bring her daughter home - if she can. For Mao has launched his Great Leap Forward, and each passing season brings ever greater hardship to cities and rural communes alike. Joy must rely on her skill as a painter and Pearl must use her contacts from her decadent childhood in 1930s Shanghai to find a way to safety, and a chance of joy for them both.
Haunting, passionate and heartbreakingly real, this is the unforgettable new novel by the internationally acclaimed Lisa See.
Ratings and reviews
4.4
14 reviews
Kaz Lehnert
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September 7, 2014
An historical must read...not an easy read however, didnt really enjoy all the art literature but understand it has its place in this novel...its really a must that shanghai girls is read first so that one becomes familiar with all the characters in dreams of joy as this is a follow on from shanghai girls....this story will stay with me for some time...so interesting to read about the great leap forward as I never knew any of that before reading these novels from lisa see...all in all well worth reading...concentration is required as not a light read
Gale Murphy
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March 8, 2013
An incredible tale of family conflict and misunderstanding beginning with the communist witchhunts of 1950's America and heading right into the heart of the dreadful human catastrophe of The Great Leap Forward in Mao's Red China.
2 people found this review helpful
A Google user
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August 28, 2014
Couldn't put it down, a must read, can't wait to read her other books.
3 people found this review helpful
About the author
Lisa See is the author of six previous novels, including the critically acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Flower Net (which was nominated for an Edgar Award), The Interior, and Dragon Bones. She is also the author of the widely acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. She lives in Los Angeles.
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