These add an unusual flavour but can also jolt the reader. Searching for Sylvie Lee is enriched with proverbs and phrases, from the sublime – a mother referred to as “my heart stem” – to the ridiculous – “a floppy dick in rosewater”. Kwok attempts to reflect the languages her characters speak – Chinese, English, Dutch – being fluent herself in all three. She carefully maintains the mystery of Sylvie’s disappearance till the final chapters Secrets pile up, as chapters move between Amy’s search and Sylvie’s account of the months leading up to her disappearance. Her little sister, Amy, is stuttering and timid, until she finds herself travelling across the world to work out what’s happened.
Sylvie is brilliant: clever, beautiful, successful, with a rich husband and good job.
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