A young girl forced to work in a sweatshop calls child services on her mother in a powerful debut memoir about labour and self-worth.
Made In China: A Memoir of Love and Labour, by Anna Qu, traces a Chinese immigrant's journey to an American future.
As a teen, Anna was sent by her mother to work in her family's garment factory in Queens. At home she was treated as a maid and suffered punishment for doing her homework at night.
Her mother was teaching her a lesson: she was Chinese, not American, and such was their tough path in their new country.
Anna's decision to alert the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) had consequences that impacted the rest of her life.
Nearly 20 years later, estranged from her mother and working in Manhattan, Anna requests her OCFS report, but key details are wrong. Faced with this, and on the brink of losing her job, Anna looks at her life's truths, from abandonment to an abusive family to seeking dignity and meaning in work.
Made In China, by Anna Qu (Scribe) RRP $29.99.