She was the youngest, so at the bottom of the Confucian pecking order that gives age automatic precedence. She, moreover, was deemed to have killed their mother. Just getting away from my stepmother was enough. The result was Falling Leaves , a heartfelt account of her oppressive family life that became an unexpected best-seller. One Australian correspondent wrote that she was one of the prophets of our time.
Nobody knows where to look for it, so they look in the books they read.
A book is not just a bunch of paper. Mingled with these discussions are more of Adeline Yen Mah's childhood memories, some of them surprisingly tender. The hero of Watching the Tree , if it can be said to have one, is her grandfather Yen Qian Li, or Ye Ye. He, of course, seemed very old-fashioned 50 years ago. They were all searching for the same truths, all urging the same sorts of consideration between people beneath heaven's gaze.