Lisa See, author of the critically-acclaimed international bestseller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005), has always been intrigued by stories that have been lost, forgotten, or deliberately covered up, whether in the past or happening right now in the world today. Ms. See's new novel, Shanghai Girls, once again delves into forgotten history. This time she's stayed much closer to home: Los Angeles Chinatown.

Shanghai Girls is about two sisters, Pearl and May, who leave Shanghai in 1937 and go to Los Angeles in arranged marriages. It is a story of immigration, identity, war, and love, but at its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters. Pearl and May are inseparable best friends, who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection. But like sisters everywhere, they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. Publishers Weekly calls Shanghai Girls "excellent... an accomplished and absorbing novel," while Booklist has written that it's a "buoyant and lustrous paean to the bonds of sisterhood."

Ms See is probably best known for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, for which she traveled to a remote area of China—where she was told she was only the second foreigner ever to visit—to research the secret writing invented, used, and kept a secret by women for over a thousand years. Amy Tan called the novel "achingly beautiful, a marvel of imagination." Others agreed, and foreign-language rights for Snow Flower were sold to 38 countries. The novel also became a New York Times bestseller, a Booksense Number One Pick, and won numerous awards domestically and internationally. MGM Studios acquired the film rights.

Continuing the Maine Literary Festival's presentation of "Cross-Cultural Experiences, Literature of New Voices in America."

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