A family tapestry, chronicling the fortunes of Jung Chang, her mother and grandmother, mirroring the history of 20th century China The grandmother, given as a concubine to a warlord general in 1924, the daughter growing up in Manchuria under Japanese and Russian occupation and committed to Mao and finally Jung Chang herself, after a period as a Red Guard, exiled after questioning the regime and working as a peasant doctor in the Himalayas Inside China, we are taken from palace to prison cell, from scenes of insurrection to quiet rooms where confidences are passed from mother to daughter