Pavilion of Women

Resumen del libro

On her fortieth birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after twenty-four years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed. Elegant and detached, Madame Wu orchestrates this change as she manages everything in the extended household of more than sixty relatives and servants. Alone in her own quarters, she relishes her freedom and reads books she has never been allowed to touch. When her son begins English lessons, she listens, and is soon learning from the foreigner, a free-thinking priest named Brother Andre, who will change her life. Few books raise so many questions about the nature and roles of men and women, about self-discipline and happiness.

Biografía del autor

Hija de misioneros, Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) vivió en China prácticamente hasta los cuarenta años. Distinguida con el Nobel de Literatura en 1938 y autora de obras como "Viento del este, viento del oeste" o "La semilla del dragón", es probablemente su novela "La buena tierra", que obtuvo el Premio Pulitzer en 1932, la que con más constancia ha gozado del favor del público desde que se publicara por primera vez en 1931.