<DIV>Beata Grant renders a great service by recovering and translating the enchanting verse ? by turns assertive, observant, devout ? of forty-eight nuns from sixteen centuries of imperial China. This selection of poems, along with brief biographical accounts that accompany them, affords readers a glimpse into the extraordinary diversity and sometimes startling richness of these women's lives. <i>Daughters of Emptiness</i> includes original hand-drawn calligraphies of each poet's name, as well as the poems in their original Chinese, alongside the translations.</div>