"Deceptively simple, Happy Family is in fact a serious exploration of culture shock and of the havoc great historical forces can wreak on private lives."

—Barnes & Noble Review

"Moving."

—Audrey magazine

"[Lee] deals with a hot-button issue in a manner neither shy nor didactic, and she invests her characters with humanity when they might easily become sociological types. Happy Family is worth reading for those reasons alone, and serves as the debut of a writer who may well do great work later on."

—San Francisco Chronicle

"Happy Family is an unarguably salient novel, one that deftly explores the nature of intimacy and family—and the woes of loss."

—Daily Candy (Seattle)

"Required reading."

—New York Post

"This slim volume resonates long after the last page."

—The Bloomsbury Review

"Rich and multilayered, Lee's novel explores what it means to be a part of something, whether it's a family or a culture. Told in Hua's sparse, somber voice, the story grabs readers from the start and doesn't let go until the final page. A truly memorable first outing."

—Booklist (starred review)

"This first novel uncoils slyly, then strikes with startling yet inevitable plot developments that unfold before the reader sees them coming....Hua's innate intelligence and irreducible sense of self resonate in every observation as she decodes the monied, impuslive lifestyle of the Templeton-Walkers, their cultured friends and the country that they call their own. A powerful debut."

—Kirkus Reviews

"First novelist Lee's craftsmanship is evident in sparse but expressive prose. She carefully and insightfully handles the contentious issue of the adoption of Chinese children.....This debut delivers on the promise of Lee's interesting premise."

—Library Journal

"Heartfelt….Impassionate storytelling."

—Publishers Weekly

Advance Praise

"Wendy Lee's moving and assured first novel unravels the tangled knot of international adoption to reveal its finest, most delicate threads: the uncertainties of parenthood, the unexpected affections between strangers, and, ultimately, the origins of enduring love."

—Dana Sachs, author of If You Lived Here and The House on Dream Street : Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam

“Even just describing the premise of this novel brings a certain anxiety: a Chinese au pair is hired by a white couple who’ve adopted a Chinese daughter. Wendy Lee debuts with a quietly dangerous novel of domestic life, about that anxiety, asking the uncomfortable questions: who do we belong to and who do we belong with, and can we change that? The story moves among some of the new taboos in American life as we live it now, sure-footed and unflinching, funny and smart—a remarkable first novel.”

—Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh

“Happy Family is a beautifully written portrait of a young Chinese immigrant finding her way in New York City. Told in lyrical prose and filled with surprising insights, this story is sure to dazzle readers and touch them deeply.”

—John Searles, author of Boy Still Missing and Strange But True

“For anyone who wants to delve into the troubled psyche of the many silent millions in this country, this moving tale of a young Chinese immigrant woman who is handpicked to care for a child closer to herself than its legal mother is required reading. Like the novel’s misleadingly innocuous title, Wendy Lee’s intentionally light hand allows for the showcasing of some very courageous and harrowing brush strokes.”

—Porochista Khakpour, author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects

“Wendy Lee’s Happy Family is a delicate and moving coming-of-age story. In deft, sparing prose, this gifted young writer explores New York City through the eyes of a newly arrived Chinese immigrant. At the same time, Ms. Lee finds her way into that civilized wilderness, the human heart.”

—Paul Kafka-Gibbons, Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning author of Love: Enter and Dupont Circle

“Lee’s sure-footed debut locates the raw nerve connecting two social phenomena—China’s one-child law and the adoption of Chinese babies by American parents. Hua, Lee’s stranger in a strange land, speaks in a soft but firm voice from the ineradicable margin.”

—Ed Park, author of Personal Days

“We can endure being unrecognized for just so long. The main character of this beautifully written, passionately accurate novel looks back on her passage to the point at which the isolation became unbearable, and the action she took in response to reaching it: breaking through the first of the concentric circles of people surrounding her—a family—and setting out on a dangerous journey outward. That she survives, that she has stopped moving, that she remains capable of love, that she can tell us about it…these are the achievements of this revelatory and original book.”

—Chuck Wachtel, author of Joe the Engineer