Pearl S. Buck

Young Peony is sold into a rich Chinese household as a bondmaid -- an awkward role in which she is more than a servant, but less than a daughter. As she grows into a lovely, provocative young woman, Peony falls in love with the family's only son. However, tradition forbids them to wed. How she resolves her love for …

A wealthy painter falls in love with an illiterate Pennsylvania farm girl in this novel from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Good Earth. At the turn of the century, an upper-class painter from Philadelphia goes searching for inspiration. He finds his muse on a farm—the farmer’s beautiful and humble …