5 Out of 5 Stars
When We Can’t Getaway, Let’s Travel Through Books
We are thrilled to give The Expatriates novel by Janice Y.K. Lee 5 stars out of 5! And here’s why.
We enjoy discovering contemporary fiction that transports us to parts of the world we have never been to. Hong Kong is just such a place we as wanderlust travelers have yet to visit. But with travel on hold due to the Covid19 pandemic, globe-trotting through books is the next best thing. Discovering what life is like in Hong Kong for some American transplants and a few locals through The Expatriates was fascinating and heartbreaking at once. We were happily immersed in Janice Y. K. Lee’s immense talent for turning words into ginger-breadcrumbs from the first page.
The Expatriates in Hong Kong
Told through the eyes of three Americans living in Hong Kong under different circumstances and each grappling with their own deeply personal issues, The Expatriates follows the women through heartbreak and happiness that culminates in a collision of all three of their lives.
Besides the brilliant prose, what really connected us to this story were the struggles each of these women was battling. Though the setting is far from our everyday lives, the issues they experienced are what many of us deal with in some form or another. So it was a “Hey, maybe we’re not alone” kind of feeling wrapped up in a captivating story.
We highly recommend this excellent novel!
PS…be sure to read The Expatriates soon as it’s being made into a television series by Amazon that should be out in 2021 or 2022.
The Expatriates Synopsis:
Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, is adrift, undone by a terrible incident in her recent past. Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, something she believes could save her foundering marriage. Meanwhile, once a happily married mother of three, Margaret questions her maternal identity in the wake of a shattering loss. As each woman struggles with her own demons, their lives collide in ways that have irreversible consequences for them all. Atmospheric, moving, and utterly compelling, The Expatriates confirms Lee as an exceptional talent and one of our keenest observers of women’s inner lives.
Author Bio:
Janice Y. K. Lee was born and raised in Hong Kong, the child of Korean immigrants. She went to the United States for school and graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English and American Literature and Language.
After college, she moved to New York and worked for several years as an editor at Elle and Mirabella magazines before getting an MFA from Hunter College and starting her first novel. The Piano Teacher was published to critical acclaim from the New York Times, People, and O magazine, among others. It spent 19 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, was a Richard and Judy Summer Read pick (UK), and was translated into 26 languages worldwide.
Janice’s writing has appeared in ELLE, Mirabella, Glamour, and Travel and Leisure, as well as numerous other publications.
She lives in New York City with her husband and four children.
The Expatriates FAQ
Yes, you can purchase the audiobook for The Expatriates on Amazon here.
The print book is 332 pages.
The book was published on January 12, 2016.
The cover image of this feature is by Athena Lam on Unsplash
To purchase The Expatriates on Amazon, click the button below.
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