Life is not easy for the young Adeline, who lives in Tanjin, China during the Second World War. Her mother has passed away during the birth of Adeline, and her brothers and sisters are accusing Adeline for bringing bad luck into the family. This sets the tone for her childhood. Her absentminded father marries again, with Niang, a wealthy but very abusive woman. Adeline is very intelligent, she gets very good grades at school and she wins several medailles for being the best of her class. Her family reacts to this with the message that she is just a big showoff and that she is a spoiled brat. The only three family members who are standing beside her are her Aunt Baba, grandmother(Nai Nai) and grandfather (Ye Ye). But her manipulating evil stepmother takes care of the fact that she has more power over Adeline, and that she will not tolerate any support for Adeline from the three supporting family members.
Real tragic and heartbreaking is the part of the little duckling in the book. Adeline is sent away many times from home, because her stepmother won't accept her any longer, and it seems that her family forgets her more and more while she is away. She feels very lonely, she has ,totally understandable, problems to make new friends because people have threaten her badly, but then she enters a writing contest..and that gives her the chance for a better future.
A heartbreaking but real impressive story, it is not fiction. It is the real childhood story of the author, Adeline Yen Mah. Seldom I have read such a breathtaking and real story, at sudden parts I was just speechless, and couldn't believe that sudden family members where so cruel to Adeline.
This book deserves many readers, and Adeline deserves a very big golden medaille for this fantastic, but tragic book. Soon to be reviewed: Fallen Leaves, the second book about the life of Adeline Yen Mah.
