Amy Tan - a guest at the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam - personally introduced her new book to Dutch audiences this week: Valley of wonder. She gave a very personal lecture at the Amstelkerk on the difficult lives of her mother and grandmother in ancient China before the great agitator Mao.
The setting: in early 20th century Shanghai, a 14-year-old girl teenager is brought into a milieu of 'virgin courtesans' by her American-Chinese parents. Refusing to acquiesce to Chinese social expectations and ideas about destiny, she grows into a very shrewd businesswoman.
Prostitution, abuse, the search for identity, and the writer as a 'dominatrix' in a highly popular American rock band. These were the ingredients of Amy Tan's lecture.
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