Bent Northrop Memorial Library

Sons is about the differences between three generations. Wang Lung died peacefully in the beginning. The story continued with the three different kinds of life that his three sons led. All of the three sons were concisely portrayed, with a slight emphasis on the third, Wang the Tiger. He rose slowly to the position of a warlord. In order to pass his position to his son as he was growing old, he sent his son to a military school to learn western war...

Madame Liang is the owner of the most exclusive and fashionable restaurant in Shanghai. In spite of Communist scrutiny she manages to provide gourmet foods and elegant service to her customers. Madame Liang had three daughters (Grace, Mercy, Joy) who were all sent to America to be educated. They all come into the story and show the conflicting aspects and dimensions of the new China emerging from the old.

Dickensian in its epic sweep, one of Buck's finest novels centers on an unnamed peasant woman in pre-revolutionary China. Without warning, her restless husband abandons her. Shamed by the experience, she is left to work the land, raise their three children on her own, and care for her aging mother-in-law. To save face with her neighbors, she pretends her husband is traveling, and sends letters to herself signed in his name. Surrounded by poverty,...