Everything I Never Told You

Ng immediately informs the reader that “Lydia is dead,” although her family is unaware of this fact (1). Lydia is the 16-year-old, blue-eyed favorite daughter of Marilyn and James Lee, a mixed White and Chinese American couple. At the beginning of the novel, on May 3, 1977, the couple and their other children, Nath and Hannah, only know that Lydia is late for breakfast.

Marilyn recalls that Lydia, who at 11 months old showed her mother that she had learned to walk out of her sight, has always kept secrets. When Lydia’s school informs Marilyn that Lydia is absent, she panics and calls James home from work.

The couple calls the police. Officer Fiske is initially optimistic, saying that “missing-girl cases” usually “resolve themselves within twenty-four hours,” with the girls returning by choice (12). Officer Fiske reminds James that Marilyn also went missing, in 1966.

As the parents call everyone they know, Nath realizes that they are misinformed about who Lydia’s friends are. He knows that Lydia was coerced into allowing her so-called girlfriends to copy her homework and that she was hanging around with Jack Wolff, a rebellious boy with whom Nath has never gotten along.