My nonfiction suggest didn't go through, so I'll try here. So many to choose from! There seems to be a few fantasy suggestions already, so I'll go with historical fiction.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.
Amazon link
Publisher's Weekly review:
(More reviews on the amazon page)Starred Review. See's engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or "old sames") Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. While granting immediacy to Lily's voice, See (Flower Net) adroitly transmits historical background in graceful prose. Her in-depth research into women's ceremonies and duties in China's rural interior brings fascinating revelations about arranged marriages, women's inferior status in both their natal and married homes, and the Confucian proverbs and myriad superstitions that informed daily life. Beginning with a detailed and heartbreaking description of Lily and her sisters' foot binding ("Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you have peace"), the story widens to a vivid portrait of family and village life. Most impressive is See's incorporation of nu shu, a secret written phonetic code among women—here between Lily and Snow Flower—that dates back 1,000 years in the southwestern Hunan province ("My writing is soaked with the tears of my heart,/ An invisible rebellion that no man can see"). As both a suspenseful and poignant story and an absorbing historical chronicle, this novel has bestseller potential and should become a reading group favorite as well.
This is definitely one of my favorite all-time books. This book is very memorable; it will stick with you long after you've read it. It's both beautiful and heart-breaking. See is of Chinese heritage, and like her other books, Snow Flower takes place in China. She does her research quite well. This book has an amazing plot, character development, and insight into how women in ancient China lived.
It's just... really absorbing. I first read it on vacation a few years back, and I cannot praise it enough.