I am delighted to be on the blog tour for this title. Many thanks to the team at HTP for this opportunity.

Those who enjoy historical fiction set in Asia, as well as those who enjoy historical fiction in general, will want to pick up this title. It offers a glimpse of a world and time with which some may be unfamiliar. That landscape and the characters offer much to the reader.

What does it mean to be a muizai? What does it mean when the relationship between the server and served faces challenges? How will each character navigate and how will they change?

Last year I read Lisa See’s novel about Lady Tan. Anyone who enjoyed that will, I think, like this title as well. Both this book and See’s show how difficult life could be for women and some of the practices (foot binding) to which they could be subjected.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own

Wow! The Lotus Shoes, by Jane Yang, is such an enjoyable read. I'm a huge fan of Lisa See and Amy Tan and it's nice to find writing of the same quality. This was a wonderful story that gave all the feels without mucking it up with a bunch of unnecessary romance and sex. A great book for all the history fans out there.

Thank you Park Row and NetGalley for the ARC.

Plot: The story follows Little Flower (a poor girl sold into slavery) and Linjing (the rich girl to whom she was sold). I won’t go into too much more about the plot, since I think it is best to go into this one blind, but the story takes place during 1800s China when foot binding was common practice and young girls were treated as property.

Review: I LOVED the first half of this book. I liked the second half, but there was a lot going on with the plot. The writing was perfect, the story moved at a quick pace, and the characters felt like real people. I learned a lot about a time in history that I previously knew nothing about, and overall I think people will love this book.

4.25🌟

Tied together by fate, slave Little Flower and Lady Linjing struggle to negotiate being women with worthless unbound feet in late 19th century China. Despite being a highborn lady, Linjing does not have her feet bound, promised to another highborn family hoping to make an impression of modernism upon the Westerners influencing the country. But tragedy strikes, and both the extraordinarily talented slave girl and the entitled lady must find a new way of existing in the limits of their world.

2.94 ★ — genuinely so sad about not liking this. i like the concept, but the execution was very flat. the characters are one dimensional and utterly aggravating to read about.

let's start with little flower. she's the enslaved character getting fucked over by her entitled mistress left and right. at one point, she's permanently miamed the family that owns her, resulting in her being unable to practice her art, the only means of self-expression she's allowed as a slave. i understand that based on the time period and her position, she has very few options for recourse, and that's obviously not her fault. but she's gandhi-like in her inner monologue as well, to the point of derangement. the personification of toxic positivity. she "resents" her employers somewhat, but she's unable to hate them because as women, they're victims of misogyny too. never does she even in her thoughts wish anything against them. which is like?? yes, that's such an admirable mindset, truly love your maturity, but this is the late 1800s, andrea dworkin. do you genuinely expect me to believe that this is the realistic mindset of a woman in the 1800s, when it's not even the mindset of most women today? and forget accuracy, actually, i don't even care, it's just that reading about miss mother theresa is an irritating, eye-bleeding experience. this other enslaved girl, friend of little flower's, once gets her literal eye cut out, and understandably, the friend becomes a little hateful towards the employers after that. little flower is sooo condescending towards the friend, like "i don't want to be hateful like you, i want to be happy, hope you become cheerful" or something equally weird, and oh my god, i wanted to climb into the book and help linjing kill her myself.

moving onto linjing. she is little flower's owner. okay, i know there's probably plenty of rich people that act like her in real life, and there were probably more of them in the 1800s. but again, reading about one-dimensional characters that are as insufferable, entitled, and stupid at age 20 as they are at age five is not an interesting experience. she's obviously written to be unlikable, i know that's the point of her character, but there are ways to make unlikable characters interesting, and she's just very much not. she's supposed to show how even wealthy women have no autonomy in a world that caters to the whims of men, but it's very surface level, and the theme is undercut by little flower's constant gandhi tendencies. linjing does have a redemption arc, but it occurs so late in the book that it's disneyish. it's just little flower telling her "hey, you're kind of an entitled freak, and we were never friends because i was literally your slave" and linjing is like "omg? you're so real. i'll be nice from now on." like okay...? it's ridiculous how fast linjing becomes a normal human. cured by one two-page speech. are we serious?

linjing and little flower's relationship itself is paced very oddly. linjing spends years psychologically torturing little flower (part 1 and 2) and then there's a two year timeskip for part 3, in which they're magically friends. there's a little flashback, showing how linjing vows to be kind employer, but a single one-page flashback isn't really good development, is it? of course, after that, you see that linjing is still insufferable. she's now just a better actress, but i still would have liked to see what happened in those two years.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.

In 1800s China, Little Flower has been raised to believe that her tightly bound feet into golden lilies will secure her future. However, when tragedy strikes, she is sold to Linjing’s family as a slave. Linjing, resentful of Little Flower’s golden lilies and embroidery skill that draws the attention of Linjin’s mother, thwarts every opportunity to rise above the level of slave. After a scandal, both women are cast out to the Celibate Sisterhood.

This is a heart-wrenching look women and their place in 1800’s China. I found the historical aspects of this book fascinating. I did however, struggle somewhat with the naming conventions of secondary characters and had trouble keeping them straight in my mind. There was a glossary in the back, but I feel like I needed this in the beginning. While this book kept me engaged, at times it dragged. I felt like it could have been shortened some from its 400 pages. Overall, this is a great look into this time period, but can be a challenging read.

5⭐️s for this heart wrenching, empowering and emotional rollercoaster of a read.


“There is a difference between surviving and living.”

✨power and class
✨sisterhood and betrayal
✨female friendships
✨identity exploration
✨dual POV

The story is set in 1800s China, where tightly bound feet, or "golden lilies," were a sign of an honorable woman. Foot binding was a way to differentiate between young boys and girls, as only girls would have their feet bound. Lotus Shoes follows two women from childhood and opposite sides of society. It was an emotionally challenging read, but one I am thankful to experience. Recommend this book for fans of historical fiction.

Thank you to Park Row, HTP Hive, and Jane Yang for this ARC.

🪷What did you love the most?
I loved that we got to follow both FMCs with their own POV in this novel. It helped me understand the motivations behind each character's actions and created a story centered on love, resilience, jealousy, and integrity.

🪷What to expect:
🏮1800s China
🏮Slave-lady dynamic
🏮Dual POV

🪷How was the pace?
This is a very character-driven historical fiction novel, so the pace was a bit slower, but there were some surprising twists and enough drama to keep the plot moving forward.

🪷Do you recommend this book?
I love to hate one of these FMCs (no spoilers here). In my mind, no matter how this ending turned out, a lot of things she did were selfish and unforgivable. However, it made for a dramatic and juicy historical fiction that I couldn’t stop reading. Ultimately, this story is a study of opposites, and you can’t help but be invested in the eventual outcome.

In 1800s China, the lives of Little Flower and Linjing Fong become intertwined when they are children. After her father's death, six-year-old Little Flower is sold to the wealthy Fong family and becomes Linjing's muizai (servant). Linjing is betrothed to the son of a family who can advance her father's ambitions. The prominent family she is set to marry into is more Westernized than most Chinese families, leading Linjing's father to forbid her from having her feet bound, a practice that, while barbaric, is considered a status symbol and a mark of feminine beauty. Having "golden lilies" was a sign of a respectable woman. Despite being a slave, Little Flower arrives at the Fong household with perfectly bound feet and is highly skilled in embroidery. Linjing's selfishness and jealousy create a rivalry between the two girls which carries into womanhood.

The Lotus Shoes is a remarkable debut novel by author Jane Yang, inspired by family stories. This deeply touching book delves into a culture that was often cruel towards women considered less valuable, including the practice of foot-binding. It is heartbreaking and hopeful with love and loss, betrayal, and redemption themes. The beauty of historical fiction lies in its capacity to transport readers to another place and time and ideally offer new insights. This novel fully achieves that. I loved it.

Little Flower and Linjing’s fates are both determined for them, like so many females in 19th century China. Little Flower is sold as a muizai, or slave, at the tender age of six so that her mother can fund her brother’s education. Linjing is forced into an arranged marriage to benefit her father’s career prospects. Though choice is not a frequent part of their days, make no mistake that Little Flower toils while Linjing lives a relatively luxurious life.

The Lotus Shoes is a character driven novel that follows the girls’ upbringing in the Fong household, giving us a picture of the female hierarchy within the many Fong wives and the household slaves. Though birth determines their station, Little Flower can embroider like a high-born woman and comes to the Fong household with golden lilies (bound feet). Linjing, engaged to a first-born son in a progressive thinking Chinese family, is one of the only high-born girls without bound feet and a terrible with a needle, causing her to resent her maid who she naively believes is cherished more than she is by her mother.

The two girls grow up side by side figuring out who they are in a very strict cultural world. When a hidden discovery upends their futures, Little Flower and Linjing begin to identify their actual wants and desires now that they have slightly more freedom to do so, and in turn learn to understand each other a little better. This sort of Cinderella story is fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. Little Flower and Linjing’s complicated relationship is one readers will find themselves yelling out in frustration while still occasionally holding out hope. Divided into two very distinct parts, we get a picture into the different castes of Chinese society.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and of course the author Jane Yang for the advanced copy of the book. The Lotus Shoes is out on January 7th! All opinions are my own.

Terrific historical fiction. Set in 18th century China it's told by Little Flower and Linjiang the girl she's a slave for. Little Flower's mother bound her feet to make golden lilies but Linjiang's father decided against mutilating hers and thus Little Flower's are unbound but this does not bond the two of them because Linjiang is immensely jealous of Little Flower not only for her talent at embroidery but also because others- notably Linjiang's mother and later another- like her more. Linjiang is not a nice person and she wields her power to punish Little Flower. This takes the reader through the twists and turns of their lives as they mature. And then there's a huge surprise and they find themselves in a position neither ever imagined. Both women have strong and distinct voices. The subject of foot building is a recurrent theme (I learned a great deal) but equally interesting (and less distressing) is the process of making silk. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Great characters and storytelling with a good dose of drama makes this a wonderful immersive read.

**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: self-harm, violence, abuse, slavery, punishment

In college I wrote a research paper on Chinese foot-binding for my Intro to Asian History class so when I was offered this book to read for a blog tour, I was interested to see what else I could learn.

The Lotus Shoes does not shy away from violence against women during this time period under Emperor Guangxu’s empire which was in the late 1800’s. Little Flower is a peasant girl who’s mom start to bind her feet at the young age of four. But circumstances deals Little Flower an unexpected and hard life as a slave to LinJing’s family. LinJing is an affluent daughter, but she doesn’t have bound feet or “golden lillies” because of Western influence making it’s way through China.

But foot-binding is not the only violence towards women that is portrayed in this story. The treatment of daughters, wives, and slaves is shocking especially because this idea of golden lily feet, status and elegance hides the violence happening to these women. It’s more sad when you realize it’s women committing the violence upon other women. This story also explores the importance of family, status and societal pressures. Little Flower and the other slaves try to fight against their circumstances but their punishment is so severe. As for LinJing, her circumstances are dealt a blow as well and I thought it was interesting to see the comparison of her life and Little Flower. Two girls with no real choice of their circumstances but they both choose different paths.

For the most part, the story held my attention but there were parts in the middle that I thought it was lagging. It picks up again in the second half though. I definitely gravitated towards Little Flower’s sympathetic story. Whereas, LinJing’s character was tough to like because of the way she treats Little Flower.


My Thoughts:

I was really engaged with this story even with the minor issues I had with it. Foot-binding is touched upon in this book but I think the real story is about societal pressures, and the history of what women in China had to go through to survive. I learned so much about what women in China had to go through in the past. If you like historical fiction, definitely check this one out.

very well written and impressive historical fiction with some very strong themes. i would recommend it. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Multiple POV
- Historical Women’s Literature
- Epic Read

This book has an incredible storyline from start to finish. Because of this book, Ive discovered a newfound love for historical literature. It takes us back to 1880s China where foot-binding is popular and is seen as the most beautiful thing about a woman and can even mean status for the woman. We follow Little Flower who is sold into slavery by her own mother and endures so many life threatening situations throughout her slavery. On the other hand we have Linjing’s perspective, the girl who Little Flower is tasked to wait on day in and out until the age of 18. But something finally happens that turns both of their worlds upside down and changes their lives forever.

I absolutely loved the fact that there was some Yin and Yang in this story throughout this book and that in all different ways there is an interconnectedness theme. I couldn’t help myself when it came to imagining myself in the circumstances of both characters and their experiences. Overall, this book is a five star read for me.

After her father dies, Little Flower is forced to leave her family and be a maidservant to a wealthy family. The stories of Little Flower and the woman she serves are interwoven and tell the story of life and class for women in 1800's China. The beginning and end were strong but the middle of the book meandered and did not always hold my interest.

The Lotus Shoes is a heart-wrenching story, set in 1800s China, that sheds light on the way women were seen as possessions and objects in a culture that values tradition over humanity. Little Flower is sold as a young child to the wealthy Fong family, and must serve as a muizai to the family’s daughter, Linjing. Little Flower and Linjing navigate a complicated relationship of Lady and slave, hopeful for a friendship that can’t exist within the bonds of Little Flower’s enslavement. Yet the two of them are intertwined and rivalry and bitterness lead to deep hurts and the hope for healing in their complicated relationship.

This book is gripping historical fiction that really brings about an emotional response from the reader. As I read the story, I found myself choosing sides between the female characters in the book, and loving some and hating others. But there is a quote in the book that sheds so much truth on the behavior of the women in the story, that says, the heirarchy favored men and no matter what position the women held, they were pitted against one another to fight for scraps of power and security. This is such a powerful theme in the book and makes the reader take a hard look at labeling the different female characters in the story as “good” or “bad”.

Yang keeps you hanging by a thread of hope, that Little Flowers’s next situation will be the one where she prevails, but then doubles down on the suffering she must face and how she finds the resilience to overcome those hardships. Linjing is definitely a complex character, and even as she proves herself to be prideful, selfish, and bitter, over and over again, I still held out hope for her throughout the story. Yang makes both of the girls come to life, and I continually found myself wishing for a happy ending for both of them.

The Lotus Shoes is a profound story that not only looks at how women were treated during this time in Chinese culture, but how all people were ruled by tradition and not being able to choose their own happiness. Breaking from tradition resulted in the person being disinherited and could bring ruin to the rest of their family. The Lotus Shoes forces us to look at the pressure put on each person during this time, no matter their sex or station in life.

If you love historical fiction, with a character driven story and complex characters, then I would highly recommend The Lotus Shoes.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Park Row. I'm voluntarily leaving a review, and all opinions are my own.

Genre: Asian Literature, Women's Fiction, Historical Fiction, Chinese Historical Fiction
Spice Level: There is a sex scene
Violence: There are some shocking scenes

THE LOTUS SHOES is a wide-sweeping tale of two women born into different stations. I enjoyed this story and was equally horrified at the twists and turns. It firmly falls in the women's fiction category.

Themes include betrayal, jealousy, class division, morality, love, family, fidelity, and more.

I found I never felt empathy for the privileged girl. There is a nod to her character development, but I personally found it hard to believe after all of her previous actions. (I hope that is vague enough not to spoil anything.)

For me, one of the overriding themes is the injustice caused by class divisions. It is part of every decision, betrayal, and jealousy. It even casts its shadow over love.

I think if you love women's fiction, you're going to love every moment of this book. It's also great for people interested in social justice.

Happy reading!

When Little Flower is sold as a slave to a daughter of a prominent family, she is hopeful that her bound feet will one day free her with marriage. Her mistress, Linjing, is instantly jealous of Little Flower and their relationship changes both their lives.

This may be one of my top five of the year! What an incredible story. I can’t believe all the drama and epicness that was packed into less than 400 pages without feeling rushed or crammed. It’s also hard to believe this is a debut. I highly recommend this one, as it should take its place among other classic popular Chinese historical fiction, such as Memoirs of Geisha and Lady Tan’s. Please don’t read the synopsis - too many spoilers!

“She was a pedigree horse wearing blinkers, only able to see the safe, privileged path she trod. How could she understand that a slave’s life was a tightrope?”

The Lotus Shoes comes out 1/7/25.

Jane Yang’s The Lotus Shoes, a novel of late 19th century South China, tells the heart-breaking but ultimately satisfying story of two girls growing into womanhood. Five months after Little Flower’s father’s death, the six-year-old’s mother announces they are going on a trip to Canton City, one-day from their village. Initially excited, along the way Little Flower learns she has been sold as a Muizai, a slave belonging to her new owner, the wealthy Lady Fong, whose bidding she must do without ever returning home. Unable to provide for both her son and her daughter, Little Flower’s mother assures her daughter that this is a good position with no hard labor, just serving the Fong family’s young daughter Linjing. Little Flower, she adds, must be patient and obedient and take care of her “golden lilies”—her traditional bound feet--for they are the attribute that will help her marry well someday.

The point of view alternates between Little Flower and Linjing, protagonist and antagonist, creating a rivalry that moves the plot along. Lady Fong tells Linjing that she hopes she and Little Flower will grow up to have a relationship like Lady Fong and her maid Cerise have had since first coming together at age six, but Linjing is not convinced. After Lady Fong praises the new servant girl’s fine embroidery skill, Linjing slams down her own embroidery hoop and is chided for setting a poor example for Little Flower. Jealous of her mother’s attention to a lowly servant, Linjing does everything she can to make Little Flower’s life miserable even after Little Flower finds a way to help Linjing cope with her colorblindness in order to improve her embroidery skills.

When Linjing’s father arranges his young daughter’s years’-long betrothal to Valiant Li, the son of a Westernized Chinese diplomatic family, he tells her she will be a young woman to help with the Westernization of China. However, shortly before the marriage, a secret comes out that ends the betrothal, results in Lady Fong’s suicide, and lands both girls in South China’s Celibate Sisterhood, a group of women avoiding forced marriages and vowing celibacy resulting in the Sisterhood’s acceptance by Chinese society. As novices in the Celibate Sisterhood, the girls become silk reelers, whose livelihood comes from extracting silk fibers from cocoons. With the Sisterhood also come suffering and potential danger, for any violation of the celibacy pledge is punishable by drowning.

Inspired by the author’s grandmother’s stories, The Lotus Shoes is a captivating debut novel of family, tradition versus modernization, loss, social class rivalries, jealousy, sisterhood, and hope.

My thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Books/Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advance reader egalley of this recommended historical novel.

The Lotus Shoes was a tale that gripped me right from the first chapter. It was easy to get behind Little Flower as the protagonist and to suffer with her as she went through so many hardships. Linjing was a character less likeable but with whom it was still possible to sympathise at times. Both women were well presented in their respective chapters, as was the sense of time and place expressed in beautiful, descriptive prose without info dumping. I was caught up in the tale from start to finish, and the ending itself was satisfying after all the drama that came before it. The Lotus Shoes was an excellent piece of historical fiction that I would recommend to fans of the genre. I am giving it 4.5 stars.