Few books graced summer reading lists as much as Jean Kwok’s bestselling novel, in which a search for a missing older sister leads to broader revelations about family, language and belonging. In its plot, the book in some ways echoes Kwok’s own experience: in 2009, decades after she emigrated from Hong Kong to the U.S., her older brother went missing while flying a plane. He was later found dead, a tragedy that fractured her family’s understanding of itself. Kwok uses that painful part of her history as a springboard to explore the things people hide even from those they hold close.
Buy now: Searching for Sylvie Lee