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From acclaimed Chinese author Cao Wenxuan, recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, comes a compelling family saga spanning fifty years and three generations. Ah-Mei and her French grandmother, Nainai, share a rare bond. Maybe it�s because Ah-Mei is the only girl grandchild. Or maybe it�s because the pair look so much alike and neither resembles the rest of their Chinese family. Politics and war make 1960s Shanghai a hard place to grow up, especially when racism and bigotry are rife, and everyone seems suspicious of Nainai�s European heritage and interracial marriage. In this time of political upheaval, Ah-Mei and her family suffer much�and when the family silk business falters, they are left with almost nothing. Ah-Mei and her grandmother are resourceful, but will the tender connection they share bring them enough strength to carry through? This multigenerational saga by one of China�s most esteemed children�s authors takes the reader from 1920s France to a ravaged postwar Shanghai and through the convulsions of the Cultural Revolution. (less)

From acclaimed Chinese author Cao Wenxuan, recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, comes a compelling family saga spanning fifty years and three generations. Ah-Mei and her French grandmother, Nainai, share a rare bond. Maybe (…more)