From the author of Empress Orchid. Madame Mao is almost universally known as an ambitious, vindictive and cruel woman, whose bid to succeed her husband led to the death of millions. But her story begins with her childhood self, Yunhe; the daughter of a concubine, she refused to have her feet bound in a first act of rebellion. She later fled the miseries of her childhood, first joining a provincial opera troupe then making a name for herself on the Shanghai stage. She married Mao Zedong, but the revolutionary leader proved to be an inattentive husband with an appetite for infidelity. Despite this, the couple stayed together throughout the Communist victory and the Cultural Revolution. A complex portrayal of one of history's most vilified women, Becoming Madame Mao is a startling and moving achievement.