What We Left Unsaid
The new gripping and unputdownable must-read novel of 2026!
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
'Heartbreaking, beautiful and confronting' SARAH WINMAN
'A timely conversation-starter of a book' WIZ WHARTON
'Kept me enthralled until the very last page' ROWAN COLEMAN
'Truly gripping and moving . . . I was hooked' LIBBY PAGE
'Exhilarating and poignant, I devoured it in one go' JINI REDDY
'Brilliant and powerful . . . her best novel yet' BIDISHA
What happened on the road will change them forever...
Thirty years ago, Alex, Bonnie and Kevin went on a road trip with their parents. But something cut their journey short, and they never made it there. Something that shifted the dynamic of their family forever.
Today, Alex, Bonnie and Kevin might be siblings, but they've grown apart, each holding heavy secrets close to their chests. When their mother's health takes a turn for the worse, she asks them to relive that old road trip to see her, and they're forced into close quarters once more.
As the siblings retrace old steps on an epic journey, they are led to finally share the parts of their lives they've tried to keep hidden. Along the way, they can learn the truth of what really happened in their fractured past - a past they now have the chance to mend.
With 'powerful and beautiful writing' (Sarah Pearse, New York Times bestselling author), Winnie M Li weaves an emotive and eye-opening exploration of family, race, growing up, and what it means to be American.
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What readers are saying about Winnie Li:
'Such a compelling and convincing read'
'An excellent, meaty page-turner . . . couldn't put it down!'
'A powerful book. Amazing, incredible and also heartbreaking'
'A brilliantly-written timely book'
'Gripping and hugely enthralling'
'Engaging and intelligent . . . five easy stars!'
'Completely absorbing and unputdownable'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Li's enjoyable third novel (after Complicit) follows three adult siblings on a cross-country road trip on U.S. Route 66. Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex Chu grew up in Southern California, the children of Taiwanese immigrants. Now middle-aged, the three are rarely in touch, much to their parents' dismay. Bonnie has married into a wealthy blue-blooded family in Boston. Kevin, an embittered conservative, is experiencing "The Midlife Crisis of the Asian American Dad" in a Chicago suburb, while Alex, the progressive youngest, lives in London and is expecting a child with her wife. They are unexpectedly reunited after their mother asks the siblings to drive together to the Grand Canyon. This unusual request stems from an episode when the family attempted a trip to the canyon in 1991 but turned around en route after something traumatic happened at a gas station. Li toggles between the two trips, gradually revealing the past events and untangling the present-day conflicts caused by the siblings' polarizing politics and varying degrees of privilege. At times, the plot feels over-engineered to expose various fault lines (the siblings pass a conveniently located Black Lives Matter protest in the Ozarks, for example), but Li capably explores the complex dynamics among her characters. This satisfies.
