Ruth Young Chapter Summaries

The novel begins with a woman named Ruth Young, a self-sustaining woman who works at home as a Ghost-Writer. One day, she comes across a stack of papers written in Chinese and remembers that her mother, LuLing, had written them for her. As much as she wants to have them translated, Ruth carries a lot on her plate. Having to deal with her unsupportive husband, her job and most importantly her slowly dementing mother, Ruth finally finds time to have them translated. In the papers she finds an auto biography written by her mother containing her grandmother's life story, as well as her own. LuLing's auto-biography begins with her childhood, growing up in a small village called Immortal Heart. There she is raised by a nurse maid who is unable to speak, but is fully devoted to taking care of her. LuLing
called her “Precious Auntie”.
Precious Auntie was the daughter of a famous bonesetter, and was the only person who knew about a hidden cave that encased several dragon bones, which were extremely valuable at that time. The only person she showed was LuLing and other than that kept the secret until she died. A very rich family with the surname of Chang wanted to arrange a marriage between LuLing and their son, only because they believe that LuLing would tell them where the bones were located. Everyone agrees with the arrangement but Precious Auntie, who strongly believes it should not be done. Since she is incapable of speaking, she writes LuLing a letter explaining why, but LuLing does not finish reading it. Deciding to end the arguing with her nursemaid, LuLing ignores her for the rest of the day and goes to sleep. When she awakes she finds that Precious Auntie had committed suicide, and is devastated. After her death, she learns that Precious Auntie was actually her mother, and the woman she thought was her mother was really her father’s sister. LuLing is soon sent to a Christian orphanage where she finishes school and becomes a teacher there. She meets her first
husband, Pan Kai Jing here. She lives in the orphanage teaching the girls there all throughout World War II, and protects the students from the Japanese soldiers in any way she can. She is reunited with her sister and they both travel to America and marry a pair of brothers, Edmund and Edwin, but LuLing’s husband was killed in a car crash when Ruth was a baby. She comes into many conflicts growing up with a mother who believes in curses. After reading all of this information, Ruth finally understands her mother along with her crazy behavior.