Life always tries to throw adversity at us which we must overcome. Everyone experiences these hardships: young to old, poor to rich, famous to forgotten. Three distinct women come to mind when the topic of personal challenges comes up. They are Hana, the main character, of the novel Picture Bride by Yoshiko Uchida; Nida, of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's When the Rainbow Goddess Wept; and An-Mei of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. These three women face many hardships in their lives, but are able to conquer the adversity that attempts to defeat them.

Hana's life is full of adversity that she learns to surmount in different ways. When Hana arrives in America, she finds something she did not expect: a husband she did not love. Taro looks very different and much older than in his middle school picture. She is disappointed, but already starts to see the...