Peach Blossom Spring – ARC Book Review

Small Update–I may not be able to regularly post blogs due to the fact that Sri Lanka is experiencing power cuts these days…well truth to be told, the economic situation in our country isn’t looking very good.

But let’s get back to ARC Book review!

With every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end of time.

It is 1938 in China, and the Japanese are advancing. A young mother, Meilin, is forced to flee her burning city with her four-year-old son, Renshu, and embark on an epic journey across China. For comfort, they turn to their most treasured possession – a beautifully illustrated hand scroll. Its ancient fables offer solace and wisdom as they travel through their ravaged country, seeking refuge.

Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. His daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, but he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down?

Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the search for a place to call home.

This book is a family saga starting from China during the 1938 to Taiwan and to the United States, spanning from 1938 till the 2000. This is a story of an emotional family story of a woman named Meilin and her son Renshu.

The story starts with Meilin and Renshu escaping from the city in China to escape from the Japanese. After the Japanese lost the war and communism is threatening to grip mainland China, Meilin and Renshu then escapes to Taiwan to start new life. They have a beautifully illustrated scroll filled with ancient fables and folk stories to find solace and gain knowledge about wisdom. Then Renshu, gets a scholarship to America, where he is then known as Henry Dao. He gets married to an American woman named Rachel and together they have a daughter named Lily. The ending mainly focus on the life in America, how Henry tries to get into the American culture by even forbidding his own daughter to learn Chinese and facing daily racism.

There are so many things I liked about this book. This book reminded me a little of Good Earth by Pearl S Buck. Though the story itself is fictional, the ordeal that Meilin and Renshu went through while escaping from the Japanese and later from the communists were all too realistic and horrifying. Both mother and son endured many hardships along the journey particularly when leaving China and moving to Taiwan with false papers. I do like the mother and son relationship between the two and I have to say, the author has done tremendous research about the life back in those days. The writing is written beautifully, captivating readers like us and I was hooked into the book. One that drew me very close to the story was the stories that Meilin shared with Renshu while journeying together, through the scroll they had–I love learning about different countries’ folk tales and so I actually enjoyed reading them, particularly about “Peach Blossom Spring” and the “The Girl who fought against the Serpent.” The racism that Henry faced was all too realistic although I do like the slow romantic relationship between Rachel and Henry. I also liked Lily’s character as well. The ending was emotional but at the same time, I really enjoyed the ending!

If you like a good historical family saga fiction, Peach Blossom Spring will be perfect. A truly emotional, story that will captivate your heart till the end! Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.