Spilled Water

Corning of Age/Family Problems/China Spilled Water by Sally Grindley Bloomsbury, 2004, 224 pp., $15.95 ISBN: 1582349371

Sold at the age of eleven by her uncle, who considers a girl child about as valuable as spilled water, Lu Si-Yan finds herself the slave/housemaid of the Chen family, who consider her to be an utter failure at her duties, but a potential future wife for their brain-damaged son. Mrs. Hong, the mother of Mr. Chen, gives Lu Si-Yan some money to escape, yet Lu Si-Yan has her money stolen and must work for a toy factory to repay the ferry fare. When she collapses at the factory after coughing up blood due to the horrible factory conditions and is sent to the hospital, she is reunited with the uncle who sold her, now regretful of his decision.

Though the writing occasionally lapses in to dragging exposition, Grindley's work deftly demonstrates the harsh factory life, low wages, and grim reality many around the world face each day. Truly an interesting find, this novel will find a place in the hearts of those teens who care for the underdog and for those interested in modern day child labor abuses.

Jennifer Judy

Oxford, OH

Copyright Assembly on Literature for Adolescents -- National Council of Teachers of English Winter 2005
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