Peony by Buck, Pearl S - 1948

New York.: John Day Co., 1948. Book Club Edition.. Hard cover. Very good in good dust jacket. Book near fine; single design blemish, front cover. Jacket has chips to spine ends, minor soiling.. Jacket art not credited.. 1 Beautifully-bound blue cloth over boards w/ gold-titles and design small front and spine box. Color art on jacket: young girl in oval; blue titles. 312 p. 21 cm. This historical fiction set a century before in the Chinese province of Honan features the maturing girl Peony. As a child, she was sold to a rich household and was raised as a bondmaid, more than a servant, less than a daughter. Skilled in storytelling about women, author Pearl S Buck weaves this young woman's love for the son of the house with the immigration to the province by a colony of Jews who were not persecuted. They suffered the hardships common to the wider community of which they were a part, and eventually became known simply as Chinese. With Buck's developed character, the reader will find familiar the struggle of Peony with love, control of her destiny, warmth, and humor. The back jacket is an essay, "The 5th Freedom", a public service education message by "Your Book Club".