“Falling Leaves” is set against a backdrop that stretches from Shanghai to Orange County. Sent to a prestigious boarding school in England at 14, she goes on to study medicine and ultimately finds success and happiness in America. Her beautiful young Eurasian stepmother made the evil stepmother in “Cinderella” seem like Mary Poppins.īut Mah’s story is also about a resilient child who finds solace from her bleak home life by excelling at school and finally pleases her indifferent father when she wins first place in an international play-writing competition. She was shunned by her wealthy businessman father and mistreated by her brothers and sisters. When her mother died shortly after Mah’s birth, the stage was set for a string of hurtful family ties. “Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter” (John Wiley & Son) tells the story of Mah’s unhappy childhood. In telling her story, the retired Huntington Beach anesthesiologist has defied the Chinese ethos that “family ugliness should never be aired in public,” she has been ostracized by her siblings and, most surprising to Mah, has created an international bestseller.
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