Rose George

Cinderella in China

So says the film-maker and novelist Xiaolu Guo — in one of the most miserable misery memoirs of all time

issue 06 May 2017

  • Once Upon a Time in the East: A Story of Growing Up

    Xiaolu Guo

    Chatto, pp. 306

She was a foundling in her own family, shunted to adoptive parents for two years, then to the edge of China, to a fishing village on the East China Sea, and to a furious, alcoholic grandfather and a grandmother sold at 12 into marriage for some pottage, and never given a name.

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