The House of Yan: A Family at the Heart of a Century in Chinese History.

The seismic political upheavals of 20th-century China serve as the backdrop to one prominent family's rise and fall in this comprehensive debut memoir by global banker and international relations attorney Yan. A child of privilege, Yan knew Prime Minister Zhou Enlai and Communist Party Head Deng Xiaoping, but was not exempt from "the toxic mirage of the Cultural Revolution" - the forced indoctrination of schoolchildren and attacks on those perceived to be enemies of the revolution - nor did it cushion her at age 10 when her grandfather and father, both senior civil servants, and her mother, a translator, were arrested for spying in November 1967. Yan expertly captures a tumultuous period in this smart, colorful family history. [Extracted from the article]