This is yet another book which leads readers into a world of a culture often foreign to the people of Malaysia. And it's a Cinderella story!

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by Tan Yi Hui Carolyn


Chinese Cinderella, a book by Adeline Yen Mah, the bestselling author of Falling Leaves, is the secret story of an unwanted daughter. This is also the true story of the author’s childhood up to the age of fourteen.

Adeline Yen Mah’s real name is Adeline Yen Jun-ling. Her family considered her to be bad luck because her mother died giving birth to her. They discriminated against her and made her feel unwanted all her life. After the death of her stepmother in 1990, she felt compelled to write her story.

Adeline is the fifth child of the Yen family. She has a sister, three brothers, a younger brother and a younger sister from her stepmother. Her own mother fell ill after giving birth to her and passed away two weeks later. Her siblings blamed her for her mother’s death, especially her Big Sister and Second Brother. When she was one year old, her father remarried. Her new stepmother, whom they called ‘Niang’(the Chinese term for mother), was a Eurasian beauty. One year after their marriage, they had a son followed by a daughter.

Naturally, Niang favoured her own children more than her stepchildren, especially her son, Fourth Brother. She disliked Adeline as the latter once tried to stop her from slapping Little Sister. Hence, Adeline received the poorest treatment among the five siblings from their stepmother. Adeline was taken care by her Aunt Baba since birth. She was separated from her aunt as Niang claims that Aunt Baba was a bad influence to Adeline. Since then, Adeline was always in boarding school and no one cared for her except her friends.

Despite the mistreatment by her family, Adeline worked hard in school as she wanted to make her father proud of her. She also loved her school and all her friends there because nobody despised her and made her feel worthless in school. She topped her class every year and was even elected as the class president and head girl of her school in sixth grade. She skipped grades when she was in boarding school due to her hard work. Finally, Adeline succeeded in winning the International Play-writing Competition in London and gained the recognition of her father, who agreed to let her further her studies in England with Third Brother.

This is really an unforgettable story for people who have read it. The author was a strong child, and she hopes that the other children will be as determined as her while facing problems and unjust. Plus, this book also contains some facts about the Chinese community, which is another interesting part of the story.