The Year She Left Us - Hardcover

Ma, Kathryn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062273345 ISBN 13: 9780062273345

Publisher: Harper, 2014

Synopsis

From the winner of the 2009 Iowa Short Fiction Prize--comes the extraordinary, unexpected debut tale of three generations of Chinese-American women in a San Francisco family who must confront their past and carve out a future.

The Kong women are in crisis. A disastrous trip to visit her "home" orphanage in China has plunged eighteen-year-old Ari into a self-destructive spiral. Her adoptive mother, Charlie, a lawyer with a great heart, is desperate to keep her daughter safe. Meanwhile, Charlie must endure the prickly scrutiny of her beautiful, Bryn Mawr educated mother, Gran--who, as the daughter of a cultured Chinese doctor, came to America to survive Mao's Revolution--and her sister, Les, a brilliant judge with a penchant to rule over everyone's lives.

As they cope with Ari's journey of discovery and its aftermath, the Kong women will come face to face with the truths of their lives--four powerful intertwining stories of accomplishment, tenacity, secrets, loneliness, and love. Beautifully illuminating the bonds of family and blood, The Year She Left Us explores the promise and pain of adoption, the price of assimilation and achievement, the debt we owe to others, and what we owe ourselves.

About this title

Review:

"A sparklingly original fiction debut."--"O, the Oprah Magazine"

"There's much to enjoy in "The Year She Left Us"....It's Ari's voice that sets this novel on fire....The magnetism exerted by Ari's chapters is all the more impressive because for much of the book, the character's misery seems to float free of her circumstances."--Laura Miller, "Salon"

"Uniquely articulated and refreshing."--"Stanford Magazine"

A deft, raw dissection of an American family .With great cleverness, Ma injects her Chinese family with American realism. --Rebecca Liao, "San Francisco Chronicle""

Kathryn Ma s first novel is electrified by the enraged tenderness of its alienated young protagonist. Part mystery, part odyssey, "The Year She Left Us" heralds the arrival of a fierce, subtle new American voice. --Jennifer Egan, author of "A Visit from the Goon Squad""

Full of secrets and obsessed with identity, this story of an adopted Chinese girl comes closer to the complexity of things than any other account I have read. It is moving and well told, and rings perfectly true. --Gish Jen, author of "World and Town ""

The characters of Kathryn Ma s glittering debut novel are complicated, infuriating and hugely sympathetic. I couldn t wait to find out what they d do next; I envy readers coming to these pages for the first time. --Margot Livesey, author of "The Flight of Gemma Hardy""

Haunting .The foundling may be a family figure in the history of the novel, most prominently in Dickens and the Brontes, but Ma gives us a striking 21st-century iteration One of the stunning accomplishments of this book is Ma s tonal range. --Mona Simpson, "New York Times Book Review""

A sparklingly original fiction debut. --"O, the Oprah Magazine""

There s much to enjoy in "The Year She Left Us" .It s Ari s voice that sets this novel on fire .The magnetism exerted by Ari s chapters is all the more impressive because for much of the book, the character s misery seems to float free of her circumstances. --Laura Miller, "Salon""

From the Back Cover:

The Kong women are in crisis. A disastrous trip to visit her "home" orphanage in China has plunged eighteen-year-old Ari into a self-destructive spiral. Her adoptive mother, Charlie, a lawyer with a great heart, is desperate to keep her daughter safe. Meanwhile, Charlie must endure the prickly scrutiny of her beautiful, Bryn Mawr-educated mother, Gran--who, as the daughter of a cultured Chinese doctor, came to America to survive Mao's Revolution--and her sister, Les, a brilliant judge with a penchant for ruling over everyone's lives.

As they cope with Ari's journey of discovery and its aftermath, the Kong women will come face-to-face with the truths of their lives--four powerful, intertwining stories of accomplishment, tenacity, secrets, loneliness, and love. Beautifully illuminating the bonds of family and blood, The Year She Left Us explores the promise and pain of adoption, the price of assimilation and achievement, the debt we owe to others, and what we owe to ourselves. Full of pathos and humor, featuring a quartet of unforgettable characters, it marks the debut of an important new voice in American fiction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0062273345
• ISBN 13: 9780062273345
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336