Ailin refuses to bind her feet.

Set in early twentieth-century China, this novel follows Ailin, a young girl born into a wealthy family where tradition is not optional — it is law. At five years old, her feet are meant to be bound, her future is meant to be arranged, her life is meant to follow a script.

Through her refusal, she becomes an outsider in her own household. It fractures family expectations and alters her marriage prospects, leading to many consequences. As China shifts under the pressure of modernity and foreign influence, Ailin’s private act of resistance becomes part of a larger historical turning.

Written for younger readers but thematically sharp, the book examines duty, gender, colonial presence, and the cost of self-determination without romanticising defiance.