March 10, 2022
Recommended Reeads
Chinese Cinderellaby Adeline Yen Mah
No doubt, you became familiar with the story of Cinderella as a child, but did you know there is a real-life one in China? Chinese Cinderella is an autobiography by Adeline Yen Mah. Hers is a tale of tragedy and the plight of an unwanted child in search of love, which takes place in Tianjin and Hong Kong in the 1940s and ’50s.Raised in a wealthy and privileged home, she recalls from a young age that her four full siblings blamed her for their mother’s death shortly after birth. A year later, their French-Chinese stepmother came into the picture and gave birth to two of her own children. She would dote on and spoil her biological children immensely while refusing to treat her stepchildren as her own. As the youngest of the stepchildren, the author was raised by her aunt, which would later result in a close bond between her, her aunt, and her grandfather as they suffered through life together. And just when she feels safe, she’s torn from home to attend boarding school, away from the only people who ever cared for her.Her story is one of bitter pain, gut-wrenching sadness, and the empowering perseverance of a child after love and identity, told in a way that makes you feel like you were there for every second of it. When everything pushed her to give up, she found another way. It’s a testament to a true beauty that only a real Cinderella can have—beauty of the heart.
Pride Center Pick: The Well of Loneliness
by Radclyffe Hall
Are you looking for a new book to read? Look no further than the Pride Center’s queer book of the month: The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. The novel tells the life story of Stephen Gordon, a lesbian born to a wealthy family in the twentieth century. Filled with many depressing twists and turns, the book shows the sadness that could come from living in a time where being queer was criminalized. Despite its overall emotional story and somewhat controversial content, the book was historically significant as one of the first modern novels about lesbians. Stop in by the Pride Center (M-145) lending library to check out The Well of Loneliness today! If the copy is gone, there are over 200 other queer-friendly books to choose from.