Spring Moon

by Bette Bao Lord

Overview

New York Times Bestseller

“Murder, passion, betrayal, . . . and intrigue. . . and the conflict of generations.” — Boston Globe

“Spellbinding.” — Anne Rice

A novel of rare beauty and skill, Spring Moon delicately captures the rich fabric of traditional life in China and the cataclysm of her long Revolution.

In an ancient land of equal breathtaking beauty and cruelty, exists Spring Moon, a courageous woman who triumphs over her world’s ultimate tragedy.

The story begins in the fifth year of the reign of the Emperor Kuang Hsu, 1892, in the courtyards of the House of Chang in Soochow, as the slave girl of the child Spring Moon achieves a terrible revenge against the clan. It ends in the 1970s when, though the moon gates and the fan gates of the court are gone, five generations of clansmen gather at the site of the family graves to perform the ceremonies that for thousands of years have linked China’s past with her present and both with the future. Spring Moon stays with the reader from the first page and it is through her that China’s eternal drama and values are revealed. Not since Dr. Zhivago has a work of fiction so movingly portrayed the human sprit in times of civil war and social change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060599751
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/27/2004
Series:	Harper Perennial Series
Edition description:	First Perennial Edition
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.79(d)
Lexile:	870L (what's this?)

About the Author

Bette Bao Lord based her acclaimed middle grade novel In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson largely on the days when she herself was a newcomer to the United States. She is also the author of Spring Moon, nominated for the American Book Award for First Novel, and Eighth Moon.

Read an Excerpt

Spring Moon

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By Bette Lord

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2005 Bette Lord
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0061001058

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Introduction

One morning a reader knocked on my door in Beijing, where my husband, Winston, was serving as American ambassador to China. There stood a stranger asking for Bette Bao Lord. Her face was oddly shaped, her speech most polite. I hesitated, dreading another avid tourist from somewhere Stateside wanting an impromptu guided tour of the embassy from the ambassador's wife.

The stranger said simply, "I've come seven thousand miles just to see her." That did it. I invited her to tea.

The explanation began more than a decade earlier with her surprise divorce. Stunned by her predicament at middle age, and her children married, she resolved to abandon the suburbia she knew for traveling far and wide in search of the extraordinary. She floated down the Amazon in a canoe and soared over the Alps in a balloon as part of a string of such feats that illuminated her brave new life for years. Eventually she had to settle for a less strenuous existence. On the plane to buy a house on her favorite Greek isle, she read a book she had snatched off a shelf while racing through the airport--Spring Moon.

My tale set in China long past elicited her own aching thoughts of family and home. She felt a kinship with Spring Moon that transcended culture, vicissitudes, time, and space. She had to fly back to America before adopting, once and for all, a life of exile.

Her son embraced her as she stepped unsteadily from the plane. Upon closer inspection, he asked, "Mother, how do you feel?"

"Awfully tired. The flight. It must be the flight."

"That's not it. You're going straight to the hospital." She could not change his mind; after all, he was an excellent doctor.

The tests found cancer of the jawbone. Her son urged its immediate removal. She balked, sincerely believing death was far preferable to dying piece by piece.

Her son pleaded, "You've been away so long. If you won't undergo surgery for yourself, do it for your family."

Stated thus, she had no choice but to consent to the excision of her left jaw.

Now I knew why her face was so oddly shaped, but I was no closer to knowing why she had flown halfway across the world to see me.

Sensing my puzzlement, she said, "Before my surgery, I vowed if I were still cancer-free five years after the operation, I'd go in search of Bette Bao Lord to express my gratitude in person. You see, if I had not happened to read Spring Moon, I would surely have bought a house and died that year alone on that loveliest of lovely Greek isles."

Other readers have written to claim my fiction is not fiction at all but a story I absconded from life. Some went so far as to name the true identity of one of my characters, who, more often than not, just happened to be a distant relative of theirs. A few were adamant in their belief that Spring Moon's life was actually that of yours truly, despite the indisputable fact that Bette Bao Lord was not over a hundred years old. At first I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Today, I luxuriate in the delicious notion that, to these readers, my heroine is real.

Of course, actual events do trigger twists and turns in historical novels. Mine were no exception. When I was just learning to speak English at P.S. 8 in Brooklyn, my parents used to take me along whenever they went to play mahjong with friends. I especially enjoyed going to "Grand Uncle" Hu's. He was the picture of rectitude in his dress and demeanor. In contrast, his small abode was stacked helter-skelter floor to ceiling with books, minus the convenience of shelves but not without order ...

Continues...

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Excerpted from Spring Moon by Bette Lord Copyright © 2005 by Bette Lord. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

	Introduction	xiii
	Prologue	1
	West Wind
1.	The New Patriarch	27
2.	The Reforms	50
3.	Winged Shoes	60
4.	The Soldier	66
5.	Red Letters	79
	Spring Fire
6.	The Bride	107
7.	Beloved Stranger	120
8.	Silent Waiting	130
9.	Harmonious Fists	135
10.	The Parting	151
11.	Farewell	159
12.	The Widow	164
	Golden Ashes
13.	Homecoming	173
14.	The Good Wife	189
15.	The New Year	194
16.	The Conspirators	202
17.	The Silken Cord	208
18.	The Assassins	223
19.	Destiny Foretold	234
	Summer Wine
20.	Interlude	253
21.	Yielding	261
22.	To Fool the Gods	267
23.	Letters	276
24.	Rightful Name	286
	Jade Phoenix
25.	The Graduation	305
26.	Gifts	315
27.	A Person of Character	326
28.	The Courtship	337
29.	The Dragon Boat	341
30.	Riding the Tiger	346
31.	Games	353
32.	The Vanguard	359
33.	Mother and Daughter	366
34.	The Proposal	373
	Sowing Dawn
35.	A Print of the Heart	387
36.	The Cadre	392
37.	Two Divided	403
38.	Final Payment	414
	Epilogue	428
	Author's Afterword	456
	Chronology	459

What People are Saying About This

Anne Rice

“I loved this book...Spellbinding.”

Mike Wallace

“War and love and money and revolution—and dynasty...A remarkable book.”

Reading Group Guide

Introduction

Behind the garden walls of the House of Chang, Spring Moon is born into an exclusive world of luxury and privilege. Her servant, Plum Blossom, attends to her every need and inadvertently alters the course of her life forever. Her uncle, Bold Talent, who has returned to China from the United States with radical new ideas, educates her against the wishes of the family, and intervenes at the moment when Spring Moon most needs his help.

But the tempests of change sweep Spring Moon into a new world -- one of hardship, turmoil, and heartbreak; one that threatens to destroy her husband, her family, and her darkest secret love. Through her tumultuous lifetime, Spring Moon must cling to her honor, to the memory of a time gone by -- and to a destiny, foretold at her birth that has yet to be fulfilled.

Discussion Questions

1. At the beginning of the novel, Spring Moon's happy existence is thrown into turmoil because of the family's plan for her servant, Plum Blossom. Her young uncle, Noble Talent, explains: "Plum Blossom is not yours ... [S]he belongs to the House of Chang." How do honor and duty factor into family decision making in the House of Chang?


2. How does the death of Old Venerable affect Bold Talent's life and responsibilities? How is Bold Talent received upon his untimely return to Soochow? What steps does he take to shed the Western manners and behaviors and reacquaint himself with Chinese traditions and customs?


3. How would you characterize the initial relationship between Spring Moon and her uncle, Bold Talent? What elements of Spring Moon's character does Bold Talent admire? Why does he agree to teach SpringMoon how to read and write? How does the House of Chang react to Bold Talent's decision to educate Spring Moon?


4. What aspects of China's political life cause unrest between Bold Talent and Noble Talent? How does Noble Talent feel about China's entering into agreements that weaken its power as a nation? When Soochow becomes a treaty port, how does Bold Talent react to protect China's interests?


5. Discuss Spring Moon's reaction to the news of her arranged marriage with Pan Tai Tai's son? Why does she go to Bold Talent and reveal the news of her marriage to him? Were you surprised by Bold Talent's willingness to intervene to rescue Spring Moon? Why does the Matriarch encourage him to find a husband for Spring Moon? Were you at all surprised by his choice of a husband? Why does Spring Moon feign grief at the news of her newly arranged marriage to Glad Promise?


6. Describe Spring Moon's mode of travel on her ten-day journey from Soochow to Peking. What does her treatment as a new bride suggest about the roles and opportunities of upper-class women in China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? How does Spring Moon and Glad Promise's wedding night defy tradition?


7. Discuss the significance of ancestors and filial obligation in Spring Moon. How important are ancestors and ancestor worship in this novel? How is the role of ancestors evident in rites of passage like births, betrothals, New Year's celebrations, weddings, and deaths?


8. What motivates Glad Promise to return to Peking and leave his pregnant wife? Why does Spring Moon decide not to bind Lustrous Jade's feet? How does the Woo clan treat her and her daughter after Glad Promise's departure?


9. What changes does Spring Moon find in Soochow when she returns with Lustrous Jade from Peking? How is she received by her family? How would you describe Bold Talent's marriage to Golden Virtue? How does Spring Moon's return affect that relationship? Discuss the implications of Spring Moon's decision to conceal her pregnancy and the birth and adoption of Enduring Promise from Bold Talent and his wife.


10. How does Lustrous Jade's awakening to Christianity and Communism affect her relationship with Spring Moon? How do Lustrous Jade and Resolute Spirit get entangled in affairs with Noble Talent? Discuss how Lustrous Jade's political fervor differs from that of her granduncle.


11. What elements of Chinese history did you find most compelling as they played out in the chronicle of the House of Chang? What aspects of Spring Moon's experience resonated most for you as a reader?

About the author

President Clinton hailed Ms. Bao Lord as "someone who writes so powerfully about the past and is working so effectively to shape the future." Her first novel, Spring Moon, was an American Book Award nominee for best first novel and an international bestseller. Ms. Lord is also the author of Eighth Moon, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, and The Middle Heart.

Editorial Reviews

A Chinese Gone With The Wind.” — Publishers Weekly

“An excellent novel” — Wall Street Journal

“The interwoven fates of five generation...Murder, passion, betrayal, incest and intrigue...and the conflict of generations.” — Boston Globe

“I loved this book...Spellbinding.” — Anne Rice

“War and love and money and revolution—and dynasty...A remarkable book.” — Mike Wallace

From the Publisher

The interwoven fates of five generation...Murder, passion, betrayal, incest and intrigue...and the conflict of generations.

Boston Globe

I loved this book...Spellbinding.

Anne Rice

War and love and money and revolution—and dynasty...A remarkable book.

Mike Wallace

An excellent novel

Wall Street Journal

An excellent novel

Wall Street Journal