Dreams of Joy by Lisa See Reviewed by Lisa Howe

  Dreams of Joy is a sequel to the book Shanghai Girls, and if I had one word to describe this book, it  would be "powerful."  Lisa See is one of my all-time favorite authors and she has not let me down again this time.  It is a fictional tale of a young girl trying to find her way in this world. It takes you from Chinatown in California to small rural villages and big cities in China.  The authors descriptions of the characters and cities  are vivid and beautiful, but also real and at times, mind-boggling. This story takes place in 1957 when 19 year old Joy runs off to join The New Society of Red China and faces many dangers in the Communist regime.  Joys mother then returns to China to try and find her and runs into many old demons and difficult challenges.  The biggest challenge of all is how to get back out of China.  If you haven't read Shanghai Girls, you definately need to read that first, but Dreams of Joy is a treasure!