Ting-Xing Ye with William Bell,
Throwaway Daughter
Faber and Faber, 2004.
ISBN: 0 571 22154 8

Grace adores the Canadian family that has adopted her from an orphanage in China, but when, one day, she is asked to write a school project about herself, her self-esteem plummets when she realises that she doesn't know anything about her background.

Her gloominess is further exacerbated when she watches the Tiananmen Square massacre on television and miserably realises that she looks just like the participants. In light of the dawning recognition that she is indeed 'different' from Canadians, she takes advantage of an opportunity to study in China, where she tries to track down her parents and, ultimately, her identity.

This brilliant, moving and distressing story is harrowing in its account of life in post-Maoist China, and gives readers an insight into the pressures that can force a mother to give away her child.

RA 14+/IL 14+
Reviewed by Linda Ford
Summer 2004