Another exquisite novel by Celeste Ng giving a glimpse into the lives of a Chinese American family of five in 1970s Ohio. Lydia is the stereotypical favourite child, showered in gifts and praise. Marilyn and James Lee are determined to see Lydia fulfill the dreams they are unable to achieve themselves, the two living vicariously through their daughter. But when Lydia’s body is found in a lake, the life they wished to build for Lydia comes crumbling down, and they are left to pick up the pieces and uncover the true reality Lydia was living.

Family secrets are uncovered, as each family member works to come to terms and uncover how and why Lydia died. Learning to deal with grief in their individual ways, and past life experiences bubbling to the surface, creating a gripping page turner with the immigrant experience in the 1970s. Celeste Ng takes readers along an emotional rollercoaster, difficult to put down.

Enjoy who-dun-its? Try out Kit Frick’s I Killed Zoe Spanos, a young adult fiction novel following the disappearance and tragic death of Zoe Spanos. Anna Cicconi arrives in a small Hamptons village of Herron Mills for a summer nanny job; she is excited for a fresh start. But instead of finding an accepting community to relax and enjoy her summer in, she enters a town on edge after the disappearance of Zoe Spanos, whom Anna Cicconi bears a striking resemblance to. Her mere presence stirs up raw-feelings of Zoe’s disappearance. Just like Everything I Never Told You, Kit Frick’s novel delves into the individualistic experience of grief and uncovering family secrets.

Nicola Yoon’s breakthrough novel The Sun Is Also A Star, like Everything I Never Told You, follows a love story beautifully combined with the immigrant experience in America. Natasha is a girl focused on science and facts, not fate or destiny. Definitely not the type of girl who meets a cute boy in downtown New York and falls in love instantly twelve hours before her family is about to be deported to Jamaica. Daniel has always been a perfect student, living up to his parent’s high expectations. But he too sees Natasha in crowded downtown New York and falls in love. He is willing to risk everything to be with her. But it is just that, the two see each other and fall in love. But as the hustle and bustle of New York separates them, how will they reconnect and rekindle their brief moment of connection?