Zhang Yawen was born and raised ingrinding poverty in the extreme climate and isolation of rural Northeast China, an experience that imbued her with a fierce desire to survive and to make something of herself. She tells us of the hardships she endured to attend school as a girl living in the wilderness, the tragic stories of her sisters, and her struggle to lift herself out of a lifetime of drudgery to become a professional writer and reporter. As a writer who came from one of the most disadvantaged corners of Chinese society, Zhang offers the reader a view of the world which has rarely been expressed in the English language. Her strength and grit can be felt in every page.