The Secret Language of Women
(Wayfarer Trilogy Book 1)
By Nina Romano
Review by S. S. Bazinet

Description: Set in China in the late 1800’s, The Secret Language of Women tells the story of star-crossed lovers, Zhou Bin Lian, a Eurasian healer, and Giacomo Scimenti, an Italian sailor, driven apart by the Boxer Rebellion.

When Lian is seventeen years old, she accompanies her Swiss father, Dr. Gianluca Brasolin, fluent in Italian, to tend the Italian ambassador, at the Summer Palace of Empress Dowager, where she meets and falls in love with Giacomo.

Through voyage and adventure, their love intensifies, but soon is severed by Lian’s dutiful promise as the wife to another. Forbidden from pursuing her chosen profession as a healer, and despised because she does not have bound feet, she is forced to work in a cloisonné factory while her in-laws raise her daughter, Ya Chen. It is in Nushu, the women’s secret writing, that she chronicles her life and her hopes for the future.

Rebelling against the life forced upon her, she empowers herself to act out against the injustice and becomes the master of her own destiny. But her quest for freedom comes at a costly price: The life of someone close to her, lost in a raging typhoon, a grueling journey to the Yun-kang Caves, and a desperate search for beauty and love in the midst of brutality.

My Review: Lives propelled by an unshakable, enduring love!

This historical novel is set in China during the Boxer Rebellion. It’s a very violent time for foreigners, Christians, and imperialists who are the targets of the Boxer fighters. Zhou Bin Lian is only seventeen years old at the beginning of the story. She’s the daughter of a Chinese mother and Swiss father. Her eyes are green and her feet are unbound. Her mixed heritage and physical features set her apart from her fellow countrymen.

Lian doesn’t fit the description of what a proper Chinese woman of her time should be. When I was reading about Lian’s unbound feet, and how her parents had spared her the pain of such a cruel practice, I had a thought. The pain of having her feet bound was the price a woman faced to fit into society. The price of unbound feet was devastating and painful too. Lian’s options are severely limited when it comes to marriage and her place in the world. At only seventeen, she is already facing a very difficult life.

It’s at this tender age that Lian meets Giacomo Scimenti, an Italian sailor. They fall deeply in love. However, with Giacomo having to return to his ship and his duties and Lian’s father falling ill and dying, they soon lose contact with each other. What doesn’t change is the love they continue to share throughout the story. It’s the heartfelt touchstone that propels their lives from that day forward. Even when they aren’t able to be together physically, Lian’s love for Giacomo is the guiding light that informs her thoughts, her response to those around her, and the actions she takes. For good or ill, she is driven by that love.

The historical setting, with all of its rich diversity, is beautifully portrayed by the author, Nina Romano. In the middle of it all, she weaves a lasting, poignant tale about Lian’s struggles to survive while holding on to her love for Giacomo. Love is the enduring story that comes through, a binding agent between Lian and Giacomo that we feel goes beyond their Earthly lives. FIVE Haunting Stars!

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