“Do you need a man to confirm what your body is already telling you to be true?”
Set in 1469-1511, Lisa See’s Lady Tan’s Circle of Women (Scribner 2023) is a remarkable story of a high-status woman doctor, her midwife best friend, and an assortment of women from whom she draws strength, courage, and good health. See isn’t using the novel to push any sort of agenda or provide any health advice; she’s simply telling a fictional story (and a very good one) inspired by the life of a young girl from an elite family who became a doctor who treated women. I’m also not here to provide commentary on the medicine and remedies Lady Tan uses, but I will say that there’s a reason that traditional Chinese medicine still exists.
When Tan Yunxian is eight, her mother dies from an infection of her bound feet. Yunxian serves as the go between with the doctor who cannot lay eyes on Respectful Lady, which is what her mother is called. He asks questions and Yunxian relays her mother’s answers. She is a child and far too young for the task, but Respectful Lady refused to allow Miss Zhao, Yunxian’s father’s concubine, to serve in the role. Respectful Lady, never properly diagnosed and never properly treated, dies. As Yunxian grows up and learns more about the ailments that women can suffer from, she realizes that the infection was a symptom of another problem; her mother was extremely depressed and suicidal following the death of her two older children. It is her mother’s death that introduces Yunxian to a world she would have otherwise never been privy to; her paternal grandparents are doctors, both of them. Her grandmother is one of a few female doctors who treat women. She works closely with a midwife because there are limitations to what she can do as it relates to blood. Midwives do the so-called dirty work and society looks down on them for it, but they can become extremely wealthy from the work. In addition to delivering babies, they also are called to testify as to whether a girl’s virginity is intact, and they are used for autopsies. The midwife that works closely with Yunxian’s grandmother has an eight-year-old daughter named Meiling. Despite their many differences, especially differences in status, the two become lifelong friends.
Yunxian continues to study under her grandmother, even as her marriage is arranged. After she is married, her mother-in-law insists she stop her education and no longer treat women and girls. She is not allowed to see Meiling. The sadness that had haunted her mother begins to also haunt her. In time, she is allowed to see Meiling and be treated by Meiling. She also resumes her studies and begins treating women and girls. When she encounters a dead body, a mystery unfolds that will take years to solve.
While I became extremely frustrated with the chokehold her mother-in-law has over her and the treatment of Meiling, once I reminded myself of when this is set, I became more amazed at what Lady Tan accomplished.
Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 