Snow Flower and the Secret Fan details the intense friendship narrator Lily shares with her laotong, or "old same" Snow Flower. The novel is richly detailed with Chinese culture, with extensive attention given to nu shu, a secret language for women, and the torturous pain of footbinding. Lisa See has crafted an amazing and authentic recreation of China in the nineteenth century. 
 At times, however, the plot fell a little flat - some of the conflicts could have been more strongly developed, and the characterization wasn't as complex as it could have been. (view spoiler)[The back of the novel summarizes a large portion of the book in a single paragraph. (hide spoiler)] That being said, Lily's complicated friendship with Snow Flower makes a compelling historical read.