"On her fortieth birthday Madame Wu was as attractive as when she married at sixteen. Nevertheless, she decided on that day to live no more with the rich and noble husband who loved her."
Such is the central theme of Pearl Buck's latest novel of China, "Pavilion of Women". The result is a remarkable book...
Miss Buck presents the leisured and cultivated Chinese, not the poor who made "The Good Earth" so memorable. The Wus and the Kangs live their easy sheltered lives exactly as their ancestors did.
Madame Wu, within her exquisite person, is a woman with a deep and strong personality. Her renunciation seems quite in character...
At this point Brother Andre, an Italian priest, begins to exert a decisive influence over Madame Wu. Their friendship is that of people who for different reasons, have put love behind them. The priest opens Madame's eyes to her well-meant mistakes.
The book is peopled with characters of varied charm - Ying, Madame's faithful maid; the shy concubine Madame chose for her unlucky husband; the son's wife who is happy with her babies; Old Lady (Mr. Wu's mother); and Kang, who for all his Chinese dignity is more than a bit of a lad.
The drama marches surely to its climax. Only when the priest is dead - slain by bandits - does Madame Wu realize her true feeling towards him.