Everything I Never Told You: A Novel

Celeste Ng

Jun 2014 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year • A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • Winner of the Alex Award and the Massachusetts Book Award • Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Grantland Booklist, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Shelf Awareness, Book Riot, School Library Journal, Bustle, and Time Our New York

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.

Ratings and reviews

It's the 1970s, and James and Marilyn Lee have three children. Their world revolves around their middle child, sixteen-year-old Lydia, who, unknown to them, is dead. Once they are told, this extraordinarily human novel unfolds like a flower. The author skillfully writes with the precision of a laser so that there's not an extraneous word or thought. Her portrait of the Lees and their inability to fully understand themselves as seen through each other's eyes is nothing short of genius. Highly recommended.

I struggled with the beginning of this book because it was moving at a slow pace. But as I continued reading, the plot became more intricate and I found it difficult to put this book down. The author provides enough details for a satisfying ending but leaves us with some questions. Albeit, I believe that the best book is the one that makes you think. I would recommend this to anyone seeking something a bit mysterious and psycological.

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About the author

Celeste Ng is the number one New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere. Her third novel, Our Missing Hearts, will be published in October 2022. Ng is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and her work has been published in over thirty languages.