Wintonbury Book Discussion (Virtual) Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet.

Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee—a girl who inherited her mother's 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 means Lydia will become a doctor rather than a homemaker; in James's case, that means Lydia will be popular at school with a busy social life. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in a small Ohio town in the 1970s. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity—and hers—make them conspicuous in any setting.

When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest in the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows what really happened.

Everything I Never Told You is a gripping page-turner about secrets, love, longing, lies, and race.