Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

It is heart-wrenching to learn what some believe because that is all they have ever known. This book follows the story of a young girl all the way through widowhood while growing up in China during the days of foot-binding. You watch her follow all the traditions of her ancestors and then pass them on to her daughter and are just in awe that they could actually believe that stuff. The lives of the upper class women seemed so miserable. Looking from the outside in I would much rather have been a poor peasant girl during that time. Their childhood is gone when they are only five or six when they must begin preparing for marriage. They were also raised with the constant reminder that a women is nothing but a burden on the whole family. It was all very sad to me.