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Searching for Sylvie Lee: A Novel Hardcover – June 4, 2019
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An Instant New York Times Bestseller!
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick & Emma Roberts Belletrist Book Club Pick!
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK BY New York Times • Time • Marie Claire • Elle • Buzzfeed • Huffington Post • Good Housekeeping • The Week • Goodreads • New York Post • and many more!
“Powerful . . . A twisting tale of love, loss, and dark family secrets.” — Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and Into the Water
A poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties binding three women—two sisters and their mother—in one Chinese immigrant family and explores what happens when the eldest daughter disappears, and a series of family secrets emerge, from the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation
It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother—and then vanishes.
Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn’t rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.
But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it’s Amy’s turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister’s movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy’s complicated family—and herself—than she ever could have imagined.
A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone—especially those we love.
“This is a true beach read! You can’t put it down!” – Jenna Bush Hager, Today Show Book Club Pick
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow
- Publication dateJune 4, 2019
- Dimensions6 x 1.09 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100062834304
- ISBN-13978-0062834300
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From the Publisher
![Jenna Book Club Searching for Sylvie Lee](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media/vc/eb188ef1-491f-4698-9801-8ad94667350a.__CR0,0,1940,600_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg)
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The Leftover Woman | Searching for Sylvie Lee | |
Customer Reviews |
4.2 out of 5 stars
1,627
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4.2 out of 5 stars
4,957
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Price | $14.99$14.99 | $14.99$14.99 |
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Like all most compelling mysteries, Jean Kwok’s Searching for Sylvie Lee has a powerful emotional drama at its heart. A twisting tale of love, loss and dark family secrets.” — Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and Into the Water
“A satisfying hybrid of mystery and family drama.” — People
“Searching for Sylvie Lee is riveting. A dazzling, talented woman disappears, leading her younger sister to search the Netherlands—and the past—for the truth. This novel is part mystery, part saga of an immigrant family. It is both gripping and emotionally resonant on every page—a remarkable achievement.” — Scott Turow, New York Times bestselling author of Testimony
“Kwok’s story spans generations, continents and language barriers, combining old-fashioned Nancy Drew sleuthing with the warmth and heart we’ve come to expect from this gifted writer.” — New York Times Book Review
“I couldn’t help but continue to read to figure out where she was and what happened to her. You can’t put it down!”
— Jenna Bush Hager, Today Show Book Club Pick
“Her book explores the mirage of the American Dream. Sylvie seems to have made it in every sense of the word, but Kwok’s story asks: What is the price of realizing this dream? And who must pay it?” — New York Times
“I was only about two-thirds of the way through Jean Kwok’s Searching For Sylvie Lee when I began telling everyone I know: “I’ve found this book, you need to read it.”... This is a story like no other.” — Marie Claire
“Piercing, inventive novel...” — O, The Oprah Magazine
“A moving tale that, while billed as a mystery, transcends the genre….. This is a beautifully written story in which the author evokes the hard reality of being an immigrant and a woman in today’s world.” — Washington Post
“Searching for Sylvie Lee is so much more than a globe-trotting suspense novel—it’s a moving portrait of the unintended consequences that stem from an immigrant family’s efforts to adapt, survive, and provide their children with a better future.” — Harper’s Bazaar
“More than a simple suspense tale of a missing young woman, this novel explores the complicated dynamics of immigrant families and the universal quest for belonging and identity.” — Town & Country
“Searching for Sylvie Lee is part mystery, part emotional drama, and the book you need in your beach bag this summer.” — Popsugar
“Kwok isn’t interested in playing out the conventions of the genre, instead opting for a narrative structure that focuses on the missing woman and the sister who searches for her, both of whom must face questions of identity and justice in a complicated, hybridized world that offers no easy answers.”
— Thrillist
“This compelling mystery will scoop you up from page one and won’t let go until the very end.... Come for the mystery surrounding Sylvie’s disappearance, and stay for Kwok’s empathetic and masterful exploration of the painful choices one family makes to survive.” — Daily Beast
“This powerful novel is a must-read.” — Women.com
“Kwok tells this story of an immigrant family with lucidity and compassion… a profoundly moving portrayal of the complicated identities that exist even within a single family… a graceful portrait of the sacrifices we make for love.”
— Nylon
“Kwok tells this story of an immigrant family with lucidity and compassion… a profoundly moving portrayal of the complicated identities that exist even within a single family… a graceful portrait of the sacrifices we make for love.” — Nylon Magazine, “50 Books You’ll Want To Read In 2019”
“Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok is a mystery about a daughter’s disappearance that will have you on the edge of your beach chair.” — theSkimm
“A dazzling display of the unique bonds among women, mothers and daughters. It’s a suspenseful read detailing what happens when the oldest daughter in a Chinese immigrant family disappears.” — CNN.com
“Masterfully written, this suspenseful story of two sisters, and the power of long-buried secrets, is also a profound exploration of one immigrant family’s search for identity and belonging in an increasingly global world. Searching for Sylvie Lee will haunt me for a long time.” — Sari Wilson, acclaimed author of Girl Through Glass
“Dazzling. A heartbreaking, tumultuous ride of a novel that upends our expectations—about family loyalty, cultural identity and the very nature of love itself—at every twist and turn. Kwok is a wise and knowing story-teller who keeps us under her spell until the very last page.” — Julie Otsuka, New York Times bestselling author of The Buddha in the Attic
“This isn’t a novel––it’s a puzzle box of familial secrets, some dark, others luminous, all of it haunting, mysterious, and completely satisfying. I was utterly spellbound.” — Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
“Deftly moving between generations and from New York to the Netherlands, Searching for Sylvie Lee is a page-turner, and a suspenseful journey of secrets, family, loyalty, and loss.” — Lisa Ko, award-winning author of The Leavers
“With prose as mesmerizing and full of depth as a perfect pearl, Kwok’s new literary masterwork explores the Chinese immigrant experience both in New York and in Holland, but what it’s really getting at is what it means for anyone to belong—to both your community, your family, and to yourself.” — Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beautiful World
“A wonderful portrait of an immigrant family and one of the best ‘unputdownable’ suspense novels I’ve read in a long time.” — Herman Koch, New York Times bestselling author of The Dinner
“Crossing continents and generations, this magnificent and enthralling story unfolds with the intricate suspense of a classic mystery novel and blooms into a radiant tale of inter-generational family love.” — Lan Samantha Chang, award-winning author of Inheritance
“A compelling story of how the unsaid can powerfully shape families and lives… Sharply observed, with a plot as unpredictable as its moody Dutch landscape, Kwok’s novel is a powerful meditation on loss, identity and belonging.” — Shelf Awareness (starred review)
“[Kwok’s] sharp and surprising language transports readers across the globe on a breathless and emotionally complex journey. Excellent from every angle, this is a can’t-miss novel for lovers of poignant and propulsive fiction.” — Booklist (starred review)
“A favorite of Paula Hawkins, this literary novel will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions this summer. A must-read for fans of Celeste Ng.” — She Reads
From the Back Cover
A poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties binding three women—two sisters and their mother—in one Chinese immigrant family and explores what happens when the eldest daughter disappears, and a series of family secrets emerge, from the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation
It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother—and then vanishes.
Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn’t rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.
But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now it’s Amy’s turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister’s movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy’s complicated family—and herself—than she ever could have imagined.
A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone—especially those we love.
About the Author
Jean Kwok is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee, Girl in Translation, and Mambo in Chinatown. Her work has been published in twenty countries and is taught in universities, colleges, and high schools across the world. She has been selected for numerous honors, including the American Library Association Alex Award, the Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award, and the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award international shortlist. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and earned an MFA from Columbia University. She is fluent in Chinese, Dutch, and English, and divides her time between the Netherlands and New York City.
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow (June 4, 2019)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062834304
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062834300
- Item Weight : 1.05 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.09 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #773,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11,071 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction
- #11,283 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #36,328 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Jean Kwok](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/fapdnv0bc69g8nmc0f8d9m89kt._SY600_.jpg)
Jean Kwok is the international bestselling author of Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown, and Searching for Sylvie Lee, which was a Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick and an instant New York Times bestseller. Her work has been published in twenty countries and is taught in schools across the world. She has been selected for numerous honors, including the American Library Association Alex Award, the Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award and the Sunday Times Short Story Award international shortlist. She immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn when she was five and worked in a Chinatown clothing factory for much of her childhood. She received her bachelor's degree from Harvard University and earned an MFA from Columbia University. She currently lives in the Netherlands.
Learn more about Jean here:
https://jeankwok.com/
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the writing style very well written and strong. They also describe the characters as rich and interesting. Readers enjoy the storyline and find it well-written and page-turning. Opinions are mixed on the engagement and plot, with some finding it hard to put down and others saying it's unsatisfying.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the storyline enjoyable, extraordinary, and beautifully written. They also say the backstory is told from multiple viewpoints, revealing deep secrets and cracks in the perfect family. Customers also mention that the book is a fast, compelling read and a page-turner mystery novel.
"...This is a mystery because Sylvie is missing, but also reads like a family drama for it's deep dive into Sylvie's Chinese-American family dynamics...." Read more
"...This was an extraordinary book and beautifully written. I was hanging on every detail until the last page. I hope you love it too...." Read more
"...I found the story interesting. Amy Lee is the younger, homebody daughter of a Chinese immigrant family...." Read more
"...A tale of Chinese immigrants, love and family, with drama...." Read more
Customers find the writing style very well written, drawing them in with the first-person narratives. They also say the book is strong and maybe even necessary.
"...What I loved about the writing of this novel were the chapters narrated in the first person through alternating perspectives of Sylvie before she..." Read more
"...This was an extraordinary book and beautifully written. I was hanging on every detail until the last page. I hope you love it too...." Read more
"...Otherwise, I was delighted originally to find it so readable. Easy to get into...." Read more
"Some good ideas and interesting cultural contributions but too many adjectives (show me, don't tell me), too much drama, poor development, all of..." Read more
Customers find the characters in the book rich.
"I really enjoyed this story, and the blend of characters. It is the story of family love, secrets and mysteries...." Read more
"...The characters were so raw and real; the family drama and how their secrets kept them apart was something that kept me grounded to my seat...." Read more
"...The characters in this book are one-dimensional and they are all basically the same character. There are three narrators: Sylvie, Amy, and Ma...." Read more
"...The two main female characters are particularly engaging...." Read more
Customers find the book interesting, giving a wonderful insight into Chinese culture and life as an immigrant in the U.S. They also say it's a mystery with a variety of complex and highly charged social issues.
"...But most importantly, what I loved about this book was how it tackled important subjects like immigrant families and their struggles to find their..." Read more
"...Beautifully written with an amazing dovetailing of three cultures, yet allowing the reader understand them all. Wonderful if flawed characters...." Read more
"This is a beautiful, touching, mysterious and enlightening book...." Read more
"...Good development of the characters and a great tie in to the various cultures included in the book...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the plot. Some find the mystery engaging, with a great twist at the end. They also appreciate the complex and deep relationships, and the in-depth portrayal of the suffering people experience when they hide. However, others say the story drags and the ending is anticlimactic.
"...The story is well-written, and the mystery deepens as we learn what happened. No spoilers here...." Read more
"...The ending was fitting and realistic, but sad and a little anticlimactic...." Read more
"...The ending was a tiny bit unexpected. I kind of suspected it but never really thought it would actually happen...." Read more
"...The two main female characters are particularly engaging. Endings are always pretty "neat" in mysteries, and we can debate how effective, but this..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the engagement. Some find the book interesting and hard to put down, while others say it's dark and unsatisfying.
"...I've never encountered language used in such a way, and the effect is deeply engaging...." Read more
"...The book was dark and unsatisfying." Read more
"...IT was a quick and easy read but held my attention the entire time. It had twists I for sure didn't see coming...." Read more
"...It was Amy this and Amy that. Very boring. The last third of the book was very readable unlike the first two thirds which was a hard boring read...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some find it fast-paced and engaging, while others find it very slow going and predictable. However, some readers say it takes a while to grab them and hold their interest.
"...The book lagged a bit, but I wanted to know how it would end. So I kept reading. All was tied nearly at the end of the book...." Read more
"...Sadly I did not love it. It was a pretty quick read. I didnt think the characters were developed enough...." Read more
"...IT was a quick and easy read but held my attention the entire time. It had twists I for sure didn't see coming...." Read more
"It was a good book. But it was slow to get going...until after 2/3 the story just seemed to drag but the end of the book was amazing and had you..." Read more
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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This is a mystery because Sylvie is missing, but also reads like a family drama for it's deep dive into Sylvie's Chinese-American family dynamics. It's not about beautiful, successful Sylvie so much as it's about shy, stuttering younger sister, Amy hunting for her missing older sister, Sylvie. But it's definitely a "sister story"!
Because of so little money when Sylvie's parents first came to America from China, she spent the first nine years of her life living with extended family in the Netherlands. Her maternal grandmother was one of the relatives who cared for her during this time. Upon hearing that her grandmother was gravely ill, Sylvie immediately flew to the Netherlands to be at her beside to help care for her. Shortly after her grandmother's death Sylvie mysteriously disappears. Amy is chosen by her parents as the one to travel to the Netherlands to search for her sister.
What I loved about the writing of this novel were the chapters narrated in the first person through alternating perspectives of Sylvie before she disappeared, Amy while she is searching for her sister and Ma as she saw her life before and after coming to America.
We hear the deep bond between the two sisters, how deeply they loved one another, often only having each other. But there is so much they don't tell each other - each of the sisters holds the other in high regard while thinking very little of themselves - each wants to be more like the other - each one feels the other sister is more loved. All remains hidden, never spoken about, never shared with the other sister.
As Amy searches the family secrets continue to surface, the suspicious characters pile up and the mystery about Sylvie's disappearance continues to mount.....
I highly recommend this book!
Otherwise, I was delighted originally to find it so readable. Easy to get into. Changing dates and point of view, as always-----and WHEN will this fad end??----were confusing, but not impossible. I think the most surprising part was that very little of the book took place in New York, but rather in the Netherlands! Chinese in the Netherlands? A little disconcerting, but also educational. I learned things about the Dutch character, the bicycle riding, the open windows... and it turns out the author lives in the Netherlands now. A good little mystery.
Top reviews from other countries
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The chapters are headed by the character in the book whose turn it is to tell their side of the story. Basically this is about a missing person by the name of Sylvie Lee, who is ethnic Chinese, born in the U.S.A., shipped to the Netherlands as a baby and left there to be brought up by relatives until she is nine years old. She is then returned to the U.S. and now in the hands of her Chinese/American parents once again. She attends school and then university and becomes quite accomplished in her field. She marries a white American but does not raise a family. She returns to the Netherlands when her grandmother on her mother' side takes ill and dies. After her Grandmother's death she was to return to the U.S. but after she leaves and is never seen again and does not arrive home to the States.
Her loving sister Amy decides she must find Sylvie and leaves for the Netherlands as she speaks both Chinese and English but not Dutch. Amy meets her relatives, her mother's younger sister, Helena and her uncle and some cousins who help her in the search for Sylvie.
At times the book seemed to go over the same information too many times by each of the main characters. But nearing the end of the story the plot takes a turn and things get very exciting and totally unexpected.
The writing is superb and the author Jean Kwok deserves all the acclaim she has received for writing it.
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It also demonstrates the difference between perceived outwardly strength and inner core strength
![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/default._CR0,0,1024,1024_SX48_.png)
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What weighs more heavily is that the persons in the book didn't really come alive for me, they stayed flat. That made for a read that was not enjoyable at all. I am glad for the author that she is so successful but I fail to see what everyone praising this book has seen in it.
![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amazon-avatars-global/db45b762-3a8a-46b5-9527-6211ed1dbf18._CR0,0,462,462_SX48_.jpg)