Women glimpsed what life was like in the West, some families allowed daughters to work and others didn’t. During the 1920’s, the Qing Dynasty had just fallen, China was a republic officially, but big chunks of the country were still ruled by warlords, there was civil war simmering between the Nationalists and the Communists. I felt a responsibility and it was to be true to the era rather than to the character inspired by my grandmother. Her story was a metonym for all the generations of women whose destinies were determined by fathers, husbands, and in-laws not just Chinese women, but women of any culture whose lives are not their own. Then I realized that the point of the novel was not my grandmother’s specific story. Unless I could do that, the straight story wouldn’t have been sufficiently interesting to sustain a book-length manuscript. My grandmother’s story had been so prominent in my mind for so long it was difficult to let go of the facts in order to fictionalize. Do you feel a sense of responsibility in basing your story around your grandmother? Was it difficult for you to give yourself creative freedom?Ĭreative freedom was a challenge at first.
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