Janice Y. K. Lee

A traumatized college graduate, a lonely housewife, and a burned-out mother of three endure the challenges of their respective demons and families in the face of unexpected consequences within their American expat community in Hong Kong.

The Expatriates

a novel

The piano teacher

It2s 1952 and 32-year-old Claire arrives in Hong Kong with her new (and dull) husband Martin. Using her marriage to escape a bitter mother and non-existent home life in England, Claire takes a position in Hong Kong as piano teacher to Locket, the daughter of wealthy socialite Chinese parents. She swiftly becomes intrigued by the family2s unconventional English driver, the charismatic and enigmatic Will Truesdale... Claire2s love affair with Will is interwoven with events in the early 1940s in Hong Kong - and another, very passionate, and tragically doomed love affair, Japanese brutality and secrets betrayed.

The Piano Teacher

"Raise a glass: The first great book-club novel of 2016 has arrived.” —USA Today, 4/4 stars “A female, funny Henry James in Asia, Janice Y. K. Lee is vividly good on the subject of Americans abroad.” —The New York Times Book Review “Sex and the City meets Lost in Translation.” —The Skimm Janice Y. K. Lee’s New York Times bestselling debut, The Piano Teacher, was called “immensely satisfying” by People, “intensely readable” by O, The Oprah Magazine, and “a rare and exquisite story” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Now, in her long-awaited new novel, Lee explores with devastating poignancy the emotions, identities, and relationships of three very different American women living in the same small expat community in Hong Kong. Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, is adrift, undone by a terrible incident in her recent past. Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, something she believes could save her foundering marriage. Meanwhile, Margaret, once a happily married mother of three, questions her maternal identity in the wake of a shattering loss. As each woman struggles with her own demons, their lives collide in ways that have irreversible consequences for them all. Atmospheric, moving, and utterly compelling, The Expatriates confirms Lee as an exceptional talent and one of our keenest observers of women’s inner lives.

A Novel

BAZEN, AŞKIN BİTİŞİ SADECE BİR BAŞLANGIÇTIR... 1942 yılında, Will Truesdale adlı İngiliz, Hong Kong’a geldi ve kendini, Avrasya sosyetesinden güzeller güzeli Trudy Liang’la tutkulu bir aşkın içinde buldu. Ancak kısa süre sonra aşkları, ülkenin Japon işgaliyle sarsılmasıyla altüst oldu. İşgalin hem iki aşık hem de içinde yaşadıkları kırılgan toplum için korkunç sonuçları olacaktı. Savaşın en karanlık günlerinde, herkes en yakınlarına dahi, ihanet edecekti.

On yıl sonra, Claire Pendleton, Hong Kong’a geldi ve varlıklı Chen ailesinin kızlarına piyano dersi vermeye başladı. Koloninin renkli sosyal hayatı, yeni evli bir İngiliz olan Claire’in başını döndürmüştü. Claire çok geçmeden yeni bir ilişkiye başladı. Ancak sevgilisinin esrarengiz davranışlarının ardında korkunç bir geçmiş yattığını keşfedecekti.

Bu muhteşem romanın iç içe geçen hikayeleri, imkansız seçimlerle dolu inanılmaz hayatları, aşk ve güveni, cesaret ve hayatta kalma güdüsünü, şimdiyi ve her şeyin ötesinde, geçmişi anlatıyor...

“Az rastlanan, müthiş bir hikaye. Harika bir romanın yapması gerekeni yapıyor. Sizi bulunduğunuz yerden ve zamandan alıp varlığını içinizde hissedeceğiniz bambaşka bir dünyaya götürüyor.”
- Elizabeth Gilbert

“Savaş zamanında aşkın ve hayatta kalmanın zorluklarını ve bu süreçte yapılan seçimlerin sonuçlarını anlatan, nefis bir roman.” - Publishers Weekly

Piyano Öğretmeni 

Set in present-day Hong Kong, THE EXPATRIATES follows the lives of three women. An unspeakable tragedy leaves twenty-something Mercy with a crippling personal inertia, and Margaret, a mother of three, numb and unable to heal. In the same small expatriate community, Hilary tries to distract herself from a marriage gone stale by providing piano lessons for a local orphan, only to find her actions openly criticized on an anonymous online forum. The individual, sometimes overlapping perspectives of Mercy, Margaret and Hilary are woven together, exposing the insularity and complex privilege of the expatriate world, whilst also revealing the fragility of a woman's position in the world.. When the women are struck by tragedy, each of them realizes how shockingly dependent they were upon conforming to the unspoken rules of their milieu. In Hong Kong, without speaking Cantonese or having a job (it is almost always the husband who precipitates the move), these women find themselves, almost unexpectedly, stripped of their former identities and living in a land of country clubs and housemaids. Without their familiar ties to family, friends, and jobs,they find themselves in a world where the old rules no longer apply. THE EXPATRIATES is a novel about overpowering grief, the transformative power of forgiveness and how finding oneself in a strange land can be the best way to find one's true self.

A devastating exploration of the emotions, identities, and relationships of three very different American women living in the same small expat community in Hong Kong. Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, is adrift, undone by a terrible incident in her recent past. Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, something she believes could save her foundering marriage. Meanwhile, Margaret, once a happily married mother of three, questions her identity in the wake of a shattering loss. As each woman struggles with her own demons, their lives collide in ways that have irreversible consequences for them all. The Expatriates is an atmospheric, moving, and utterly compelling story of motherhood and family set against the unforgettable backdrop of Hong Kong.

Piyano Öğretmeni

Ambitious, exotic, and a classic book club read, 'The Piano Teacher' is a combination of 'Tenko' meets 'The Remains of the Day'.

Janice Y. K. Lee

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