Peach Blossom Spring is a sprawling, slow moving and detailed look at a family that escapes war in China in the 1930s and 1940s only to then face the violence around Communism.  Meilin is a beautiful new wife with a young son when the story begins. In the first war, her husband is drafted and tragedy strikes. 

We follow Meilin as she struggles to protect her son and herself through horrors that I didn't know even happened. This book taught me that I am woefully ignorant of Chinese history, and it weaves in historical events with accuracy and some detail without being bogged down in too much minutia. As Meilin's son gets older, we shift to his perspective. Renshu, later going by Henry, experiences life so differently because of his traumatic childhood. And finally, we read from the perspective of his daughter, Lily, growing up biracial in New Mexico. 

If you love a multi-generational family story, this is one to pick up. It is beautiful, and Melissa Fu does an excellent job of balancing detail with letting the reader infer the feelings of the characters. My only criticism is that the beginning is very slow and it took about a hundred pages to feel rooted into and drawn to the story. Overall, this is an excellent piece of historical fiction and I recommend it sincerely.