Daughters of Shandong

One of my most anticipated books this year has been Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung. Set primarily during the Chinese Civil War, it follows a mother and her three daughters as they escape persecution by the Communists in northern China and their long migration to Taiwan. From the (lack of) value placed on girls to the devastating effects of war, this is a moving historical fiction debut.

Special thanks to the publicists at Penguin and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Hai is the first-born to her parents, the eldest of three daughters but no sons. Though the Ang family is wealthy, Hai, her sisters, and their mother are all treated as burdens or even slaves by the family matriarch. When the Angs find themselves on the wrong side of the Chinese Civil War, they flee their home in rural Shandong… but leave behind the mother and three daughters. Together, this abandoned family of four will face unfair persecution by the Communists, homelessness, becoming refugees, and a long, dangerous journey south through Hong Kong and towards Taiwan. From the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, they learn resilience and strength, as well as the true value of girls and women in a sexist society that left them behind.

Review

Daughters of Shandong is a powerful novel and a stunning debut. This is my first time reading a book set during the Chinese Civil War (though I have read books set in surrounding times and involving Chinese politics of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s), and I found it both illuminating and harrowing. When the wealthy, land-owning Ang family flees Shandong and the Communists for safer, Nationalist-held territories, they leave behind the eldest son’s wife and three daughters. As women and girls, they’re seen as disposable, not worth saving too. Hai is the first-born of these three daughters; Di is a year younger, and they’re rounded out by their baby sister and mother. Together, they will face years of danger, hunger, disease, and living in the shadows as they journey towards safety.

At the core of Daughters of Shandong is the harsh reality of sexism in China’s traditional culture. Hai’s mother is expected to give birth to a son, and her own worth is dependent on providing a male heir. With only daughters so far, she’s treated like a slave by the wealthy Ang family, and despised enough to be left to die when the Communists make it to town. Again and again throughout the novel, Hai and her mom and sisters are faced with limitations and even abhorrence from their own family. But without those Angs around anymore, these four girls and women will discover their own inner strength and resilience.

Another powerful theme is of the relationships between sisters—mainly between Hai and Di—as well as the relationship between mother and daughter. Hai narrates the whole novel; she is obedient and diligent, soft-spoken and eager to learn, but she faces some of the worst effects of the Angs abandoning her and her mom and sisters. She couldn’t be more unlike Di, her sister who is only one year younger. Di is a firecracker, independent and full of opinions, but at times reckless and short-sighted. Then there are the two sisters’ disparate relationships with their mom. Hai gets along well with their mother, but Di is often at odds with her. As Daughters of Shandong progresses, these relationships evolve in some ways, but many characteristics may be set in stone, no matter the circumstances they’re placed in. (Case in point: their evil grandmother. What an awful woman!)

Most of this novel is painful to read. Hai and her small family fall farther down in society, first being abandoned and left to face the wrath of the Communists. They live in a shed before setting out on foot for Qingdao, the nearest big city and where the rest of the Angs fled to. But from there to Hong Kong, they go from homelessness to refugees, suffering malnutrition and uncertainty about their future. Yet even with all the struggles they face over the years, Daughters of Shandong is written in a way that is completely entrancing, propelling the reader forward with each candid description and each beautiful turn of phrase.

A novel like this would generally feel heavy and heartbreaking, but despite all the hardships Hai and her family endure, it progresses with strength and ends with hope. Hai is determined to break the cycle of oppression against women. From one generation to the next, she envisions how she and her future daughter can reject the traditions that subjugate women and instead forge their own paths and independence. The last few chapters speed by, feeling like an extended epilogue, but they conclude the novel on an uplifting note.

Final Thoughts

Daughters of Shandong is a beautifully written, edifying, and impactful novel. I enjoyed learning more about this period of China’s history, seeing a deeply troubled family fractured by war, and watching as these women overcome such adversity to reclaim their lives. It’s not a light read, but it is tied up with an empowering message by the end. This is an incredible debut, and I look forward to reading more from Eve J. Chung.

Get the Book

You can buy Daughters of Shandong here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction
Setting	China; Hong Kong; Taiwan
Number of Pages	400
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	May 7, 2024
Publisher	Berkley

Official Summary

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick!

A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story

Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.