The Expatriates

Ann Marie Lee's singsong intonation expresses the feminine spirit at the heart of Janice Y.K. Lee's long awaited new novel. With precision the narrator portrays three female expatriates whose lives intertwine in Hong Kong. Her elongated words and intentional pace evoke listener responses ranging from curiosity to shock. Using nuances of tone, she illuminates the thematic relationship between Margaret's tragedy, involving her son, and Mercy's scatterbrained path to motherhood. There's also Hilary's relentless drive to become a mother, which leads her to come together with the other two characters--at times, humorously so. Author and narrator blend perfectly to convey a powerful journey of love, loss, and growth. T.E.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

October 12, 2015
After her successful debut novel, The Piano Teacher, Lee returns with a captivating book about three American women living in an expatriate community in Hong Kong. She explores their experiences with love, loss, and uncertainty about the future and the unexpected ways their lives intersect. Mercy, a recent Columbia graduate who relocated from New York to Hong Kong in search of new opportunities, struggles to move forward after her involvement in a disturbing incident. Margaret, who used to have a life that other people envied, with a happy marriage and three children, finds herself searching for a new identity after her family is shaken by a loss. And Hilary, a wealthy housewife wishing for a child and toying with the idea of adoption, feels stalled by indecision and a troubled marriage. Their international community, described vividly in this atmospheric narrative, is insular. That these women occupy different spaces in this world of privilege does not prevent them from altering one another’s lives. Lee’s women are complex and often flawed, which makes the stories of their strength all the more compelling in this tale of family, motherhood, and attempts at moving on.