Falling Leaves by Roeline Yen May

It is amazing to know that in one's lifetime, you have lived through what seems like extreme historical eras, as if one person lived through the Dark Ages, then the Middle Ages, then the Renaissance. In this book, a memoir, Meh, writes about Chinese history but from the point of view of her place in it, as a daughter. She places her life in context. By telling us about her family's history, we learn what life was like before Communism, and then how it changes for an aristocratic family. Her mother died when she was only two weeks old, and when her father remarried, she had to endure the evil stepmother. Thankfully, she had an Aunt who helped her to realize that she had worth. I don't usually like memoirs, but this was different, as it gives context, and so you learn history and culture by reading about her life