Editorial Content for The Fourth Daughter

Lyn Liao Butler's parents are from Taiwan, and often Taiwanese culture and food are featured in her novels. But in her latest book, THE FOURTH DAUGHTER, we are immersed in Taiwan --- in both its crowded, colorful present and its violent, politically fraught past. We meet two strong women: Liv Kuo, a chef in New York who is suffering from PTSD because of an extremely traumatic event in the restaurant she worked at, and her Ah-Ma (grandmother), Yi-ping Wang, who moved back to Taiwan after living in the US with Liv's family for many years, helping to raise her grandchildren.

Although they have been very close, Liv has been lying to Ah-Ma since the incident. And while she tells her grandmother that her life is back to normal, she really doesn't leave her apartment. She's been on leave from the job she loved as she can't bear the thought of going back to the restaurant's kitchen where the violence took place. Ah-Ma knows that something is wrong, and she asks Liv to come to Taiwan to help her with something extremely important.

What Ah-Ma never shared with her family is that her youngest daughter, Yili, was brutally torn away from her when she was 18 months old. Ah-Ma was in a loveless marriage, and her husband was angry when their fourth child was born because it was another girl. When Ah-Ma finally gave birth to their fifth child, a boy, he took Yili a month later and gave her to another family to be a future bride to their son. This was not an uncommon practice.

"This is definitely Lyn Liao Butler's most powerful, impactful novel thus far. The wonderful complexity of not just the plot, but also the characters, the time periods, the history and the culture make it a story that will not be forgotten any time soon."

Ah-Ma went crazy when she discovered what her husband had done. No one would help her, and after a few days, her erratic behavior made her sister-in-law caution her that if it continued, her husband or his parents could make her leave the family. In 1960s Taiwan, as in many other parts of the world, women had no rights. Ah-Ma couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her children, so she behaved.

For years, Ah-Ma searched for her daughter but to no avail. Finally, decades later, she managed to escape Taiwan and follow her children to the US. There she lived for many years until her husband’s death, when she decided to return to Taiwan to live out her life. But one day, while in line at the market, she saw someone she knew was her daughter. But the woman, now in her 60s, didn't recognize the name Yili and hurried away. So Ah-Ma asks Liv to help her find Yili. Liv knows that she must leave her apartment and venture out to assist her grandmother. For both their sakes.

What follows is a touching and heartfelt story in which the narration is divided between the present, as we follow Liv and Ah-Ma as they search for Yili, and the past. Ah-Ma relates her history, her marriage, and how she was befriended by Ziyi, a strong, intelligent and determined woman who also was married to a powerful man in what we learn is the political party in power. The Kuomintang’s control over Taiwan was ruthless. People who voiced dissenting opinions were jailed and often executed. Doctors, lawyers and professors all disappeared. And Ziyi and Ah-Ma were married to men whose families were part of the KMT; both spouses were ruthless, violent and devoid of compassion.

The story is gripping from the start. Butler's brilliant use of first-person narrative allows us to see and feel what the characters do. While this is a page-turner, Butler manages to include so many details about Taiwan and its history, politics, culture, misogyny and cruelty, while also sharing the good --- the people who fought against the violence and for democracy, the incredible food, the scenic markets and family compounds.

My head is still spinning trying to assimilate all the information about Taiwan that I never knew, while my heart still feels the pain suffered by Ah-Ma and Ziyi from the abuse they endured at the hands of the men they married.

The ending is beautifully done and heartwarming, but it doesn't erase the light that Butler shines on all the wrongs that were perpetrated on women. While Ah-Ma's husband stole her child away, Ziyi's husband beat her brutally. After one of the beatings, Ziyi says that women have no rights, and Ah-Ma realizes that they can't leave their abusive spouses.

Butler does not shrink from depicting the cruelty of those in the KMT political party. Ziyi is afraid to contact Ah-Ma in America because she believes the KMT had reach there and could harm Ah-Ma even a continent away: "Professors, known pro-democracy advocates, were assassinated on American soil." Butler writes about one incident in Taiwan in which there was "the massacre of a prominent pro-democracy politician's family." Ziyi relates, "I had nightmares about the six-year-old twin girls of the jailed man who were stabbed to death, as well as his mother. What kind of country did we live in that they would murder innocent children and women?"

Butler also points out the Taiwanese instinct to hide mental illness as something shameful, often with fatal results. Even Liv, with her PTSD, must overcome her reluctance to seek help for her fears and trauma.

This is definitely Lyn Liao Butler's most powerful, impactful novel thus far. The wonderful complexity of not just the plot, but also the characters, the time periods, the history and the culture make it a story that will not be forgotten any time soon. It's a terrific book club choice for those reasons, but also because of the many provocative themes that Butler presents --- including issues of misogyny, women's rights, abuse, loss, the choices we make, and how far we will go to ensure that our loved ones are safe.