Josie Bailey’s Reviews > Snow Flower and the Secret Fan > Status Update

“If she truly loved me, why couldn’t she do as I had done-wrap herself in the conventions that protected women-to make her bad situation better?

…

I didn’t understand that the bold horse of Snow Flowers’s childhood had been broken in spirit. I was stubborn enough to believe I could fix a horse that had gone lame.

“Her words transported me back to the hours when I experienced the worst pain of my footbinding and she had often repeated a version of that promise. With horror, I realized that during those awful days she had not been showing me mother love at all. In some twisted way, the pain she inflicted on me had to do with her own selfish wants and desires.”

Beautiful Moon 🌕🪷

“Her words both frightened and exhilarated me. She was clever. She had much more learning than I did. But this was not the scary part. andin every message she spoke of birds, of flight, of the world away. Even back then, she flew against what was presented to her. I wanted to cling to her wings and soar, no matter how intimidated I was.”

“All I knew was that footbinding would make me more marriageable and therefore bring me closer to the greatest love and greatest joy in a woman’s life-a son.”