The Crystal Ribbon

Wonder, mysticism, heartache, and joy are the stones that set the path to one girl's journey as her destiny unfolds.
In the village of Huanan, in medieval China, the deity that rules is the Great Huli Jing. Though twelve-year-old Li Jing's name is a different character entirely from the Huli Jing, the sound is close enough to provide constant teasing-but maybe is also a source of greater destiny and power. Jing's life isn't easy. Her father is a poor tea farmer, and her family has come, to the conclusion that in order for everyone to survive, Jing must be sacrificed for the common good. She is, sold as a bride to the Koh family, where she will be the wife and nursemaid to their three-year-old son, Ju'nan. It's not fair, and Jing feels this bitterly, especially, when she is treated poorl,y by the Koh's, and sold, yet again, into a worse situation that leads Jing, to believe her only option ,is to run away, and find home again. With the help of a spider, who weaves Jing a means to escape, and a nightingale, who helps her find her way, Jing embarks on a quest back, to Huanan-and to herself.