Lydia Lee

Everything I Never Told You's first sentence, indeed first word, describes 16-year-old Lydia Lee, one of the main characters of the novel. At the opening of the novel, Lydia has disappeared from her home in suburban Ohio the night before, a fact the family realizes when she is not at the breakfast table. As her family soon learns, Lydia died by drowning in a lake nearby their house. After the death is quietly ruled a suicide by the police, the Lees must try to piece together what would have made Lydia do such a thing. The central mystery of "Who was Lydia?" propels the narrative forward as Ng's novel looks at the intricate and complicated relationships of the Lee family.

The middle child and oldest daughter of Marilyn and James Lee, Lydia is also the product of her parents' heritage. Her father, James, is the son of...