Pearl Buck

She married John Lossing Buck, an agricultural economist in 1917. They had one biological daughter who was severely mentally retarded, and one adopted daughter. The couple divorced in 1935.

She married Richard Walsh, an editor, in 1935. The couple adopted six more children. They had a loving marriage that lasted till Richard’s death in 1960.

She established the Welcome House Inc. (now part of the Pearl S. Buck International) in 1949 to promote international, interracial adoption of children—the first one of its kind in the world. The institution has till now placed thousands of children in loving homes across the world.

Pearl Sydenstricker was born in West Virginia to Caroline Stulting and Absalom Sydenstricker. Both her parents were Presbyterian missionaries who went to China after their marriage. She was one of the seven children born to her parents, of whom only three survived to adulthood.

She was raised in a bilingual environment and was taught both English and Classical Chinese. She was a voracious reader from a young age.

She went to the U.S to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1914. She also served for sometime as a Presbyterian missionary but resigned after some controversy.

She returned to China and taught English literature at the University of Nanking and the National Central University from 1920 to 1933.

She started writing stories and essays for magazines like ‘Nation’, ‘The Chinese Recorder’, and ‘Atlantic Monthly’ in the 1920’s. She had also begun work on her first novel ‘East Wind, West Wind’, which was published in 1930.

In 1924, she went to the U.S for a short time and earned her Masters degree from Cornell University. In 1925, she returned to China.

In 1927, the political situation in China worsened and several Westerners were murdered. She fled to Japan and stayed there for a year before returning to China.

She now dedicated all her free time to her writing career and completed the manuscript for ‘The Good Earth’ within a year. The novel was published in the U.S in 1931 and went on to become a bestseller. The sequel to the novel, ‘Sons’ was published in 1933.

Her novel ‘The Good Earth’ (1930) became a U.S best seller and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. The storyline revolves around the life of a family in China before the World War II. The novel has been adapted into Broadway plays and a film.

The sequel to ‘The Good Earth’ was published in 1932. It was titled ‘Sons’ and dealt with the issue of how the sons of an old man manage his property after his death.

Her novel ‘China Sky’, published in 1941 focuses on themes like love, honor, and betrayal during wartime in China during the Japanese invasion. A film based on the book was made in 1945.

‘The Big Wave’ (1948) is a children novel which tells the story of how an orphaned boy who bravely faces many tragedies finds love and happiness again.