All I Ever Wanted

by Jane Lo

Overview

Norah, a vivacious ESL teacher in Hong Kong, deftly straddles two worlds: she is Chinese, but sees life through a western lens because of her upbringing. These two worlds collide when she meets sweet, chivalrous Ben and marries him against her parents' wishes. Suddenly a wife and daughter-in-law in a traditional Chinese household, Norah is torn between speaking Chinese and English, between being Ben's wife and her own person, and between giving in to her mother-in-law's senseless demands and standing up for herself and the way she wants to raise their baby, Joey. Ben, meanwhile, finds himself running in circles in an attempt to keep the peace, but to no avail: Despite his best efforts, his mother continues to be critical and disapproving, and his wife quietly discontented. But when Ben's mother unwittingly puts baby Joey's life in danger, Norah and Ben realize they cannot go on like this. How much are they willing to give up for their happily ever after-or is a happy ending firmly out of reach for a couple like them?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789888769926
Publisher:	Earnshaw Books Ltd
Publication date:	04/11/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jane Lo is a Chinese-Canadian writer and English teacher. Shortly after Lo was born in Hong Kong, her family moved to Vancouver. In university she studied Biblical Hebrew and English Literature and loved both: she pursued further studies in one (Hebrew) and a career teaching the other (English). Over the years she has worked and studied in both cities, but she is now happily settled in Hong Kong, and lives with her husband, their two sweet but boisterous children, and their extremely shy leopard gecko, Snowy. Reading and writing are her passions. ALL I EVER WANTED is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

"Jane Lo is a wonderful writer, and she has created some vivid and endearing characters." - A.J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of The Puzzler

"A rare and genuine depiction of early parenthood. There is joy and tenderness here, as well as anxiety-inducing in-laws, health issues, and the pressure of earning one's keep in a major city. After reading it I found myself missing the characters that inhabit this novel, I re-read passages of it, just to spend more time with them." - Caitlin Thomson, author of Incident Reports

"Jane Lo's debut novel All I Ever Wanted is a heartfelt Hong Kong love story. She writes with lyrical precision and finely observed emotions of the private lives of ordinary people with candor, wit and vision." - Xu Xi, author of Habit of a Foreign Sky

"Charming, authentic and moving." - L.A. Larkin, author of The Safe Place

"Jane Lo has written a book many big names can't touch in terms of feeling, warmth, and outright fun. I could not put it down. Her description of motherhood made my heart ache, it is so poignant. She is funny and her loving portrayal of Hong Kong defied my Westerner's view of the city as an overcrowded metropolis. The book revolves around love and every paragraph is tender." - Christopher G. Bremicker, author of Eagle Claw and Other Stories

"All I Ever Wanted explores the rich territory of parenthood - the illness of children, social isolation, and the struggle with mothers-in-law - set against the backdrop of Hong Kong. It's quietly beautiful and deserves your attention." - John Matthew Fox, author of The Linchpin Writer

"Lo's novel expertly examines the collision between tradition and modernity, familial duty and romance. It recalls such novels as Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap in its ability to reveal the deep motivations of people via the quotidian events that define our lives." - Dr. Patrick Holland, author of The Mary Smokes Boys

"An engaging novel about the challenges of new marriage and parenting across cultural divides. Its many local references will enlighten newcomers to Hong Kong and delight natives with its mentions of familiar places and the fissures between generations, social classes, languages, and backgrounds. Readers will learn that familial love is never simple and that a Chinese mother-in-law can be a formidable opponent when an only son and grandson are at stake." - Heather Diamond, author of Rabbit in the Moon

"Jane Lo has written the book many of us wish we'd had years ago, no matter our culture or background. Even better, her book comes with an endearing Hong Kong backdrop that shows the beauty and struggles of people who believe that love truly conquers all." - Susan Blumberg-Kason, author of Good Chinese Wife

"A poignant, incisive exploration of motherhood, family, and the challenges of navigating a marriage that spans class and cultural differences. This thoughtful, moving novel poses a universal question: what happens when you get all you ever wanted, yet realize that to keep it, you'll have to find the courage to make choices you never dreamed of?" - Emily Colin, New York Times bestselling author of The Memory Thief

"Jane Lo folds faces of doubt into small red envelopes and turns them into luck. If love can be a mother or a partner, can it also be the self? How much of our language is our own, and which parts have we learned in order to not become swallowed up by the world's terrifying silence? Whether in waiting rooms, cabs or classrooms or childhood homes, Lo is there to soothe our flaking, reddened skin with her truth - that we belong somewhere much more beautiful than the hells we once imagined." - Daisuke Shen, author of Funeral

From the Publisher