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The acclaimed debut novel by the author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts
“A taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense.” —O, the Oprah Magazine
“Explosive . . . Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
December 7, 2021 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593607916
- File size: 288637 KB
- Duration: 10:01:19
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet. With an opening like this, rather unexpectedly delivered in Cassandra Campbell's sweet tone, the listener is easily drawn in. Who's Lydia, and what happened to her? Who are "they," and why don't they know? These questions drive the plot of this book. Campbell guide listeners carefully as she explores the complexities of families, and society in general. The story of the tragic teenage Lydia begins with her lonesome youth, in particular her relationship with her parents. Campbell's pacing is steady and calm, and her shifts between the past and present are clear. Her voice evens out the characters, whose dialogue seems stilted at times. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from April 14, 2014
This emotionally involving debut novel explores themes of belonging using the story of the death of a teenage girl, Lydia, from a mixed-race family in 1970s Ohio. Lydia is the middle and favorite child of Marilyn Walker, a white Virginian, and James Lee, a first-generation Chinese-American. Marilyn and James meet in 1957, when she is a premed at Radcliffe and he, a graduate student, is teaching one of her classes. The two fall in love and marry, over the objections of Marilyn’s mother, whose comment on their interracial relationship is succinct: “It’s not right.” Marilyn gets pregnant and gives up her dream of becoming a doctor, devoting her life instead to raising Lydia and the couple’s other two children, Nathan and Hannah. Then Marilyn abruptly moves out of their suburban Ohio home to go back to school, only to return before long. When Lydia is discovered dead in a nearby lake, the family begins to fall apart. As the police try to decipher the mystery of Lydia’s death, her family realize that they didn’t know her at all. Lydia is remarkably imagined, her unhappy teenage life crafted without an ounce of cliché. Ng’s prose is precise and sensitive, her characters richly drawn. Agent: Julie Barer, Barer Literary.
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