Blog tour: The Leftover Woman

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Welcome to the blog tour for The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok!

More about the book…

Jasmine Yang thought her daughter was dead at birth. But five years after she was taken from her arms, she learns that her controlling husband sent the baby to America to be adopted, a casualty of China's one-child-policy. Fleeing her rural Chinese village, Jasmine arrives in New York City with nothing except a desperate need to find her daughter. But with her husband on her trail, the clock is ticking, and she's forced to make increasingly risky decisions if she ever hopes to be reunited with her child.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardise not only Rebecca's job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble.

Two women in a divided city, separated by wealth and culture, yet bound together by their love for the same child. And when they finally meet, their lives will never be the same again...

More about the author…

Jean Kwok is the internationally bestselling author of Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown and Searching for Sylvie Lee, and contributor to the Sunday Times bestseller, Marple: Twelve New Stories.

Her work has been published in twenty countries and she has been selected for numerous honours, including the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award shortlist.

She is fluent in Chinese, Dutch and English, and currently lives in the Netherlands.

My impressions…

I am so grateful to have been able to join the blog tour for this fantastic novel. I felt drawn towards it as soon as I saw it – the beautiful cover, the intriguing title and synopsis… this book seemed to have it all. And it does, including the author’s mesmerising way with words.

As a mother, I thought I knew whose side I would take. Surely, no woman deserves to be lied to and have her child taken away. And while I still felt heartbroken for Jasmine, I also felt the same towards Rebecca. Hers is no dream life, like it might appear at first sight.

I loved how the two women come together over the love for their child, and I also found their cultural differences, skilfully woven into the narrative, extremely interesting. I suspect I will be thinking about this novel for some time to come.

Three words to describe it. Emotional. Powerful. Gentle.

Do I like the cover? Yes, it’s stunning!

Have I read any other books by the same author? No, but I’d love to!

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