Olejar Books

Lydia is dead. But they don–™t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother–™s bright blue eyes and her father–™s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue–”in Marilyn–™s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James–™s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia–™s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia–™s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it–™s the youngest of the family–”Hannah–”who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.

A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.