Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng's debut novel follows a Chinese American family in 1970s Ohio in the aftermath of their teenage daughter's death, unpacking decades of unspoken expectation with a tenderness that never tips into sentimentality.

Celeste Ng's novel about a custody battle that splits an Ohio suburb in two is really about how far a mother will go to protect her version of the truth, and it moves like a slow fuse toward the fire promised on page one.