Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

So I was going to Christchurch one year ago and my flight was delayed. Jetstar. Gosh. Anyway so I bought a book at whitcoulls in the airport. I had been recommended it by many friends and so I deemed it suitable to get. I read for roughly 2 hours waiting for my flight. I was in love with Chinese Cinderella.

This is a real story about a real girl how was oppressed because she survived but not her mother.

Yen Jun-ling lived her whole life being told she was bad luck and feeling unwanted only because her mother died when giving birth to Jun-ling. She was one when her father remarried to a young European, Niang. Her name was then changed to Adeline.

Aunt Baba looked after Adeline for as long as she could protect her from the loneliness and from feeling unwanted. Adeline always knew it was her fault mama was dead but being in constant reminder that she was gone by Lydia (her elder sister) and her brothers made life hard. She was used like a servant being given nothing in comparison to her siblings and especially her half brother and sister. Niang's children.

So pretty much the story goes like this: Adeline was in primary at St. Josephs and she was very good. She never told anyone about what her life was like at home. She was told to keep up the façade of the perfect family. One day her friend invites her to a birthday party and everything is broken. She is disgraced in front of her friends and her parents don’t care they well endorse this type of injustice. They move away and life gets harder. Outsiders see what they want to see and even though they know they sit with it. It’s sick. Adeline stood up for her half sister and was punished no one ever stood her. One day a friend brings ducklings and all the children get one. Adeline’s is called precious little thing. Plt for short. She loves her duckling and it’s her only friend. One day her father says their dog is doing well in obedience classes and they should test it out with a duckling. Her older brother chooses Plt because he knows if anything happens to Plt it will not be at fault. Plt was attacked and soon died.

There was some sort of war going on. I’m not really sure but Adeline was left in a convent school all alone, forgotten in the heart of it. Luckily her aunt remembered and she was taken back to her family. Even though this sounds like a happy ending it wasn’t. Adeline was still shunned and was treated like an outcast.

This is a heart touching story and for anyone who reads it will feel the pain that Adeline felt. I give this book a 10/10 because it was so amazing, the pain comes alive and you feel like you are with her being treated unjustly. At this time many children were also left in convents because they were simply worth nothing to their parents.   Amazing absolutely amazing just the horrific unjustness people gave because of superstition and belief that wasn’t even justified.