A small group of old familars to start with. We were cringing at the descriptions of foot-binding, and remarking on how well the book had shown us a window into a time and place completely foreign to us, but a fresh face came running in, apologizing profusely for being late. She grew up in a village in Taiwan, and for her, the book brought back vivid memories of her childhood. (And she was astonished to learn that See doesn't speak Chinese.)

We rambled on about relationships between women (in-laws in particular), the advantages and disadvantages for arranged marriages vs marrying for love...