“A dazzling display of the unique bonds among women, mothers and daughters. It’s a suspenseful read detailing what happens when the oldest daughter in a Chinese immigrant family disappears.” - CNN.com
“This compelling mystery will scoop you up from page one and won’t let go until the very end.... Come for the mystery surrounding Sylvie’s disappearance, and stay for Kwok’s empathetic and masterful exploration of the painful choices one family makes to survive.” - Daily Beast
“More than a simple suspense tale of a missing young woman, this novel explores the complicated dynamics of immigrant families and the universal quest for belonging and identity.” - Town & Country
“A moving tale that, while billed as a mystery, transcends the genre....When family secrets are revealed, we feel Sylvie’s unbearable pain. Kwok cracks open Sylvie’s heart, spilling its sorrowful contents for all the world to see. This is a beautifully written story in which the author evokes the hard reality of being an immigrant and a woman in today’s world.” - Washington Post
“A moving tale that, while billed as a mystery, transcends the genre….. This is a beautifully written story in which the author evokes the hard reality of being an immigrant and a woman in today’s world.” - Washington Post
“Piercing, inventive novel...” - O, The Oprah Magazine
“Kwok’s story spans generations, continents and language barriers, combining old-fashioned Nancy Drew sleuthing with the warmth and heart we’ve come to expect from this gifted writer.” - New York Times Book Review
“Searching for Sylvie Lee is so much more than a globe-trotting suspense novel—it’s a moving portrait of the unintended consequences that stem from an immigrant family’s efforts to adapt, survive, and provide their children with a better future.” - Harper’s Bazaar
“I couldn’t help but continue to read to figure out where she was and what happened to her. You can’t put it down!”
- Jenna Bush Hager, Today Show Book Club Pick
“Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok is a mystery about a daughter’s disappearance that will have you on the edge of your beach chair.” - theSkimm
“Kwok’s story spans generations, continents and language barriers, combining old-fashioned Nancy Drew sleuthing with the warmth and heart we’ve come to expect from this gifted writer…. I lost myself in the music of Kwok’s story and heard a family trying to find their own harmony. If there’s a more familiar and beautiful sound, I don’t know what it is.” - New York Times Book Review
“A satisfying hybrid of mystery and family drama.” - People
“Kwok tells this story of an immigrant family with lucidity and compassion… a profoundly moving portrayal of the complicated identities that exist even within a single family… a graceful portrait of the sacrifices we make for love.”
- Nylon
“Her book explores the mirage of the American Dream. Sylvie seems to have made it in every sense of the word, but Kwok’s story asks: What is the price of realizing this dream? And who must pay it?” - New York Times
“Searching for Sylvie Lee is part mystery, part emotional drama, and the book you need in your beach bag this summer.” - Popsugar
“Kwok isn’t interested in playing out the conventions of the genre, instead opting for a narrative structure that focuses on the missing woman and the sister who searches for her, both of whom must face questions of identity and justice in a complicated, hybridized world that offers no easy answers.”
- Thrillist
“A favorite of Paula Hawkins, this literary novel will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions this summer. A must-read for fans of Celeste Ng.” - She Reads
“A compelling story of how the unsaid can powerfully shape families and lives… Sharply observed, with a plot as unpredictable as its moody Dutch landscape, Kwok’s novel is a powerful meditation on loss, identity and belonging.” - Shelf Awareness (starred review)
“This powerful novel is a must-read.” - Women.com
“Deftly moving between generations and from New York to the Netherlands, Searching for Sylvie Lee is a page-turner, and a suspenseful journey of secrets, family, loyalty, and loss.” - Lisa Ko, award-winning author of The Leavers
“Kwok tells this story of an immigrant family with lucidity and compassion… a profoundly moving portrayal of the complicated identities that exist even within a single family… a graceful portrait of the sacrifices we make for love.” - Nylon Magazine, “50 Books You’ll Want To Read In 2019”
“[Kwok’s] sharp and surprising language transports readers across the globe on a breathless and emotionally complex journey. Excellent from every angle, this is a can’t-miss novel for lovers of poignant and propulsive fiction.” - Booklist (starred review)
“Crossing continents and generations, this magnificent and enthralling story unfolds with the intricate suspense of a classic mystery novel and blooms into a radiant tale of inter-generational family love.” - Lan Samantha Chang, award-winning author of Inheritance
“With prose as mesmerizing and full of depth as a perfect pearl, Kwok’s new literary masterwork explores the Chinese immigrant experience both in New York and in Holland, but what it’s really getting at is what it means for anyone to belong—to both your community, your family, and to yourself.” - Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beautiful World
“Masterfully written, this suspenseful story of two sisters, and the power of long-buried secrets, is also a profound exploration of one immigrant family’s search for identity and belonging in an increasingly global world. Searching for Sylvie Lee will haunt me for a long time.” - Sari Wilson, acclaimed author of Girl Through Glass
“This isn’t a novel––it’s a puzzle box of familial secrets, some dark, others luminous, all of it haunting, mysterious, and completely satisfying. I was utterly spellbound.” - Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
“I was only about two-thirds of the way through Jean Kwok’s Searching For Sylvie Lee when I began telling everyone I know: “I’ve found this book, you need to read it.”... This is a story like no other.” - Marie Claire
“Searching for Sylvie Lee is riveting. A dazzling, talented woman disappears, leading her younger sister to search the Netherlands—and the past—for the truth. This novel is part mystery, part saga of an immigrant family. It is both gripping and emotionally resonant on every page—a remarkable achievement.” - Scott Turow, New York Times bestselling author of Testimony
“Dazzling. A heartbreaking, tumultuous ride of a novel that upends our expectations—about family loyalty, cultural identity and the very nature of love itself—at every twist and turn. Kwok is a wise and knowing story-teller who keeps us under her spell until the very last page.” - Julie Otsuka, New York Times bestselling author of The Buddha in the Attic
“Like all most compelling mysteries, Jean Kwok’s Searching for Sylvie Lee has a powerful emotional drama at its heart. A twisting tale of love, loss and dark family secrets.” - Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and Into the Water
“A wonderful portrait of an immigrant family and one of the best ‘unputdownable’ suspense novels I’ve read in a long time.” - Herman Koch, New York Times bestselling author of The Dinner
