Feather in the Storm: A Childhood Lost in Chaos - Hardcover

Wu, Emily Yimao; Engelmann, Larry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375424288 ISBN 13: 9780375424281

Publisher: Pantheon Books, 2006

Synopsis

Told from a child's and young girl's point of view, Wu's spellbinding account - which spans nineteen years of growing up during the chaos of China's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution - opens on her third birthday as she meets her father for the first time in a concentration camp. A well-known academic and translator of American literary classics, her father had been designated an "ultra-rightist" and class enemy. As a result, Wu's family would be torn apart and subjected to an unending course of humiliation, hardship and physical and psychological abuse. Wu tells her story of this hidden Holocaust, in which millions of children and their families died, through a series of vivid vignettes that brilliantly - and innocently - evoke the cruelty and brutality of what was taking place daily in the world around her. From watching helplessly as the family apartment is ransacked and her father carted off by former students to be publicly beaten, to her own rape and the hard labor and primitive rituals of life in a remote peasant village, Wu is persecuted as a child of the damned.

About this title

Review:

"Feather in the Storm represents a magnificent accomplishment. Here is the truly timely tale of a world in revolutionary chaos as suffered and seen by an innocent and powerless child. Emily Wu's memoir is a story for all times-heart-wrenching, chilling, inspiring and above all unforgettable." --Anchee Min, author of Red Azalea"With passion, candor, and restraint, Feather in the Storm tells a young girl's story of growing up in a violent, revolution-battered China. . . . This rich, unique, heartbreaking narrative is about human cruelty, foolishness and decency, and is ultimately a testimony to indomitable human tenacity and vitality." --Ha Jin, author of Waiting, winner of the National Book Award"Wu rises from the ashes of death and destruction to give voice to the lost and tortured innocent souls of her haunting childhood." --San Francisco Chronicle"A starkly vivid memoir. . . . Throughout this compelling work, her voice is quiet and steady, underscoring the violent capriciousness of Wu's childhood under Mao. By the end, we're more than readers; we've become her witnesses." --Newsweek

About the Author:

Emily Wu’s stories have appeared in both Chinese and American publications. She is one of the featured subjects in the film Up to the Mountain, Down to the Village. She lives with her two children in Cupertino, California.

Larry Engelmann is the author of five previous books, including Daughter of China. His writing has appeared in many publications, including American Heritage, Smithsonian, and the magazines of both the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. He lives in San Jose, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0375424288
• ISBN 13: 9780375424281
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336