First published 2000
Born into a wealthy Chinese family, young Adeline is shunned and abused by her own relatives. Her mother's death brands her as "bad luck," and her cold, manipulative stepmother unleashes a torrent of emotional abuse. Shuttled off to boarding school, Adeline finds solace in books as she dreams of a new life beyond her family's oppressive grasp. But as the Red Army approaches, the family flees to Hong Kong, trapping Adeline in a gilded cage of isolation and torment. Adeline's powerful memoir recounts her harrowing journey to reclaim her voice and forge her own destiny.
Genres: historical-fiction, autobiography, biography-memoir, family-drama, chinese-literature
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: California, China, Chinese Americans, Hong Kong
Period: 1937-1945, 1945-1970, 20th century
278 pages · Paperback · Broadway Books
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, emotional-abuse