Pearl of China: A Novel

Set at the end of the nineteenth century during a period of great change in China, this historical novel follows Willow, a nine-year-old girl from a poor family in the small southern town of Chin-kiang. Her life changes when she meets Pearl, the eldest daughter of an American missionary. Pearl is headstrong, independent, and intelligent—she will grow up to become Pearl S. Buck, the Pulitzer Prize– and Nobel Prize–winning writer and humanitarian activist. The two girls form an immediate and close friendship. However, when the Boxer Rebellion erupts, Pearl's family is forced to leave China to escape religious persecution. As the twentieth century progresses through military coups and Mao's Red Revolution, the two friends maintain their lifelong bond across the distance separating them, despite personal hardships including difficult marriages and unfulfilled dreams.