Adeline Yen Mah, author of Elon University’s common reading, “Falling Leaves,” will discuss the book at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 11 at Alumni Gym. Her address, sponsored by the Liberal Arts Forum, is free and open to the public.
“Falling Leaves” is a memoir about Yen Mah’s experience as an unwanted child in a large family in China, and her lifelong battle to overcome the emotional scars she suffered. Yen Mah grew up in a home where a tyrannical stepmother abused her both mentally and physically, abuse that haunted her into adulthood. More than 1 million copies of “Falling Leaves” have been sold, and The New York Times Book Review praised the memoir, saying, “It’s hard not to admire her persistence and perseverance.”
Trained as a physician, Mah gave up medicine to write full-time after completing “Falling Leaves.” Mah has written three other books, including “Chinese Cinderella,” an autobiography written for children; “Watching the Tree,” and “A Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Memoir of China’s Past Through Its Proverbs.”
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