Chinese Cinderella by Adelaine Yen Mah

Who does not know the story of Cinderella! A young motherless child who was driven to drudgery and despair by her evil stepmother and stepsisters. Till one day when a Fairly Godmother comes to her rescue and well...we know the rest.

The Chinese Cinderella by Adelaine Yen Mah too follows the same path with the only and biggest difference being that our Cinderella saves herself. Our Cinderella here is Adelaine Yen Mah, the author herself and that is why this book is such an inspiration and should be included in school libraries as a ‘must read’.

Through this book Adelaine describes her experiences while growing up in a conventional Chinese Family in China during the Second World War. Her mother dies soon after her birth and her siblings blame her for her mother’s death. Always the unwanted and unloved child, Adelaine seeks love and acceptance from her father, stepmother and siblings. When that is not forthcoming she searches for that in her academics. 

Adelaine Yen Mah as a baby

Excelling in studies and at making friends Adelaine shines albeit dimly under the watchful and loving care of her Aunt and her grandfather. Unfortunately that glow is shortlived and she is shunted off to a war struck Tianjin. Her feeling of hopelessness, loneliness, sorrow and her will to survive it all is what makes this book so wonderful.

It takes immense courage to revisit a sad childhood and write about it for the world to read. It’s like baring your soul to strangers. If in her book Falling Leaves, Adelaine wrote about a girl’s journey into adulthood; then in Chinese Cinderella she has focussed only on her childhood.

Adelaine Yen Mah

This is a beautifully written book that awakens deep emotions in the reader. A must read.