Seattle - June 10, 2008

Family Matters

“Happy Family,” by Wendy Lee

Functional families? Puh-lease. No one wants to read about those (snoozefest).

Dysfunction, on the other hand, makes for a damn good story. Proof: Wendy Lee’s misnomered debut novel, Happy Family.

Hua Wu, a Chinese immigrant, hopes to start anew in New York City. But, like so many immigrants, her dreams of affluence give way to loneliness.

During a visit to the park to escape her Chinatown waitressing gig, Hua meets Jane Templeton and her adopted Chinese daughter, Lily. Jane, desperate for Lily to learn about her heritage, hires Hua as Lily’s nanny. When Hua realizes that Jane’s happy home and marriage is a paper-thin façade, she longs to protect Lily from its dissolution at any cost.

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

We’re not saying schadenfreude’s a good thing.

But it sure does get the pages turning.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore. For more information, go to wendyleebooks.com.