Everything I Never Told You

Staff Top Fives 2015

Our favorite books of the year.

After you read this book, if you're a parent, be prepared to call your children and apologize for everything you've ever done. When death rips apart the Lee family, it becomes quite clear that Marilyn and James have not been the parents they imagined themselves to be. Lydia, Nathan, and Hannah have been molded, bent, and stunted by their mom and dad, yet the Lees are far from bad parents. This is a sort of study of the myriad ways in which we damage our children while trying our best to provide structure, support, and motivation in their lives. This is also a beautifully written story about one family's experience with sudden death, and how that death affects everything they know. Ng is a great writer, and she captures all the nuances of a family on the brink of disaster. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com

The acclaimed debut novel by the author of Little Fires Everywhere.

"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.

"If we know this story, we haven't seen it yet in American fiction, not until now....Deep, heartfelt.” The New York Times Book Review

Celeste Ng grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She attended Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and son.