EVERYTHING HERE IS BEAUTIFUL
Author: Mira T. Lee
Publisher: Forthcoming from Pamela Dorman Books (Viking Penguin) ISBN: 0735221960 Pages: 368 Price: $26 Website: www.miratlee.com
MIR A
T
EE .L Two sisters — Miranda, the oldest, straitlaced and serious, responsible because she has to be; and Lucia, the younger, headstrong and impulsive, prone to living life on a grand scale. Their unshakable bond, and the ways in which it is tested, is at the core of Mira T. Lee’s powerful debut novel Everything Here is Beautiful. An emotional family drama, an immigrant story, and a poignant narrative of what it means to love someone who is mentally ill, the book is a dazzling, deeply felt tale about the lengths we go to for those we love --- and marks the arrival of a promising new literary voice. “This heart-wrenching, delicately drawn novel is filled with family love, passion, pain and forgiveness. Mira T. Lee spins a story spanning oceans that draws us ever closer to her characters’ generous, flawed hearts. Power and unforgettable,” said Jean Kwok, New York Times best-selling author of Mambo in Chinatown (Book Review by Asian Avenue Magazine in November 2014). Through different perspectives, the author weaves the complexities of a woman’s recurring mental illness and not only how it takes over one’s life, but how it impacts the lives of the people close to her --- her sister, the men in her life, her baby daughter. Be prepare to cry because it is heart wrenching to see a family walk through this journey. Even with the sad overtones, it is still a book that is so eye opening and well written. It is a powerful story of an incredible bond between two sisters, their ability to love each other but know when to let go and when to hold on to each other.
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January 2018 | Book Review
Reviewed by Mary Jeneverre Schultz Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @Jeneverre
Miranda has been her sister’s protector for as long as she can remember — ever since she and her pregnant mother emigrated from Shanghai to America. Years later, Lucia’s impetuous nature leads her to marry an older man, a one-armed Russian Jew, only to leave him abruptly to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant. While Lucia is busy rushing into life-changing decisions, sometimes with cataclysmic results, Miranda tries to put down roots and not come running every time her sister’s impulses get the better of her. But when Lucia starts hearing voices, Miranda must find a way to save her, without losing herself in the process. Told in alternating points of view, the book spans years and continents, following Miranda and Lucia from East Coast cities to a tiny village in Ecuador to the mountains of Switzerland. At its heart, it is about one woman’s quest to be more than just her illness, to create a full life in spite of the darkness she grapples with each day — and her sister’s equally affecting journey to care for her while finding her own path. Lee tenderly captures Lucia’s struggle, and its ripple effect on those around her, in this stirring and beautifully written tale of the ties that bind us across oceans, over time, and through love, chaos and heartbreak. Mira T. Lee’s work has been published in numerous quarterlies and reviews including: • TriQuarterly • The Missouri Review • The Southern Review • The Gettysburg Review She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She was awarded an Artists’s Fellowship by the Massachusetts Cultural Council in 2012. She is a graduate of Stanford University and lives with her husband and two young sons in Cambridge, Mass.