Author Guide
Lisa See Books in Order
Complete reading list for the bestselling historical fiction author known for vivid novels set in China and among Chinese-American communities.
About
Lisa See is a Chinese-American author based in Los Angeles. Her grandmother was Chinese and her family has deep roots in Los Angeles Chinatown, which she chronicles in her family memoir On Gold Mountain (1995). She is best known for her historical fiction set in China, which is researched with rigorous attention to detail — foot binding, nu shu (the women's secret script), traditional medicine, and the lives of women in historical Chinese society. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005) was a New York Times bestseller and was adapted as a film in 2011. She is one of the few American authors who writes about Chinese history with both the care of a scholar and the narrative drive of a compelling storyteller.
Where to start: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005) is the essential starting point — her most celebrated novel and a perfect introduction to her historical world.
All Lisa See Novels
Listed in publication order. Each completely standalone.
1
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
2005
Start HereTwo girls bound together by laotong — the Chinese practice of pairing girls as lifelong intimate friends — and the nu shu script they use to communicate. Devastating.
2
Peony in Love
2007
Three young women connected to a 17th-century Chinese opera. Love, duty, and the afterlife.
3
Shanghai Girls
2009
Two sisters flee Shanghai in 1937 to marry men they've never met in Los Angeles. The most historically gripping of See's novels.
4
Dreams of Joy
2011
The daughter from Shanghai Girls goes to China during the Great Leap Forward. Harrowing sequel.
5
China Dolls
2014
Three young women working as entertainers in 1930s San Francisco Chinatown. The secret histories of three women from three different backgrounds.
6
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
2017
Fan FavouriteA mother in a remote tea-growing village in Yunnan, China, and the daughter she gives up for adoption who grows up in America.
7
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
2023
Most RecentA woman physician in 15th-century China challenges the social order through medicine. Most recent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Lisa See's books connected?
Most are standalone. Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy are connected — the latter is a direct sequel. All others can be read in any order.
Is Lisa See's research accurate?
Extensively so. See does years of research for each novel — including archival research in China, interviews with historians, and immersion in the period she is writing about. The cultural details in her books, particularly around foot binding and nu shu, are well-regarded by historians.
Is Lisa See Chinese?
She is part Chinese. Her paternal great-grandfather was Chinese; her father is Chinese-American. She grew up partly in Los Angeles Chinatown and has spent much of her career researching and writing about Chinese and Chinese-American history.