Marie Jiang

Marie is a math professor at Simon Fraser University whose first-person narrative anchors the novel. She is known by several names: her English name Marie, her Chinese name Li-ling, and Ma-li, which is Ai-ming's nickname for her since she cannot pronounce Marie. This causes her to feel fragmented at times, and at other times connected to the world around her, representing her complex relationship with her heritage as a member of the Chinese diaspora. Marie was a curious and persistent child, full of questions for Ai-ming about their families' histories and determined to remember every detail of the stories Ai-ming told her. These qualities are also present in adult Marie, who refuses to give up on her search for Ai-ming, even after twenty years of no contact. Having experienced much loss in her life—the deaths of both her parents and the disappearance of Ai-ming—Marie falls...