Everything I Never Told You
"Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet. So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, 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 inherited 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's 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 and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest of the family-Hannah-who observes far more than anyone realizes a
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In small-town 1977 Ohio, mixed-race middle child Lydia Lee is found drowned in a lake. Celeste Ng's novel works backward through her parents' marriage, her siblings, and the years of pressure that brought her to the dock.
Yes. Everything I Never Told You won the 2014 Amazon Book of the Year and was named Best Book of 2014 by NPR, The New York Times, and many others. It was Celeste Ng's debut novel.
A film adaptation has been in development since 2014 but has not yet been produced. Celeste Ng's later novel Little Fires Everywhere was adapted as a Hulu series in 2020.
Everything I Never Told You was written by Celeste Ng, published in 2014 by Alba.
Everything I Never Told You is 297 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Everything I Never Told You takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
Everything I Never Told You is a standalone novel by Celeste Ng, not part of a series.
Everything I Never Told You is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
