Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter

Description

The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter The story of an unwanted daughter growing up during the Chinese Communist Revolution, blamed for her mother's death, ignored by her millionaire father and unwanted by her Eurasian step mother. A story of greed, hatred and jealousy; a domestic drama is played against the extraordinary political events in China and Hong Kong. Written with the emotional force of a novel but with a vividness drawn from a personal and political background, Falling Leaves has been an enduring bestseller all over the world.

Thought to bring bad luck because her mother died giving birth to her, Adeline Yen Mah was discriminated against by her family all her life. Falling Leaves is both the moving story of how she survived that rejection and an enthralling saga of a Chinese family, from the time of the foreign concessions to the rise of Communist China and the commercial boom of Hong Kong.

Charged with emotion . . . a vivid portrait of the human capacity for meanness, malice - and love' Falling Leaves is a terrible and riveting family history . . . It is also a story about endurance and the cost it can exact . . . gripping' * Daily Telegraph * An illuminating account of the destructive nature of family relationships set against a backdrop of China in change * Mail on Sunday * A light burns in the book that is never extinguished . . . [it is] an act, not of vengeance or bitterness, but of catharsis * Sunday Telegraph * The pain of so much emotional abuse leaps from every page . . . the most amazing aspect of this story is that Adeline managed to survive . . . and emerge triumphant . . . compelling' * Val Hennessy * I am still haunted by Mah's memoir . . . Riveting. A marvel of memory. Poignant proof of the human will to endure