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Summary

In 1900 a twelve-year-old girl, Xiaoxiao, comes to a mountain village to discover that her uncle has arranged a marriage with a boy who is still on the breast, at two. Strict clan rules govern all behaviors and she becomes her husband’s nanny (he must call her “sister” until he is old enough to marry her). In one scene, the villagers are discussing a group of schoolgirls who are allowed to marry whomever they want, and who enjoy reading and a degree of freedom that Xiaoxiao longs for. Huagou, a local peasant, takes notice of Xiaoxiao, now sixteen and taking good care of six-year-old Chunguan, and a love affair begins—with terrifying consequences. She knows the feudal values her community clings to, and watches them strip and drown a young widow who has been unfaithful to her husband. That woman’s lover lives, albeit with broken legs. And what will happen to her?

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