Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. So begins the story of this debut* novel by Celeste Ng, 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 has 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’ 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, decides to find a responsible party. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow related. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes* everything and who may be the only one knowing the truth about it.

    The book explores the divisions* between cultures and the rifts* within a family, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.(SD-Agencies)