This is the story of Pan Yuliang and how she became the most famous painter in Shanghai. Pan has to overcome many obstacles to achieve her goal, including the extreme prejudice against women by her country of birth, its painting institutions and morals; the betrayal of her guardian uncle and resultant early life spent as a prostitute; even the love of her life clearly has planned a different life for her. The greatest obstacle Pan has to overcome, however, is the lack of faith in her own ability and Jennifer Cody Epstein convincingly pieces together the circumstances that lead to Pan discovering the secret to her painting and the confidence to make the greatest sacrifice of all in order to be a successful painter.

The one criticism of this book is the unsatisfactorily understated description of Pan's early life as a prostitute to the extent there is little to distinguish between the harshness of this period compared to the rest of her history.

Overall, however, the remarkable facts of Pan Yuliang's life and the tumultuous time in China's history it spanned are well interwoven with fiction by and make a satisfying read.