Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee
It took me a long time to read this novel. Not because it wasn't interesting, or well written, because it was both of those things. It was hard to read because of the subject matter. I found it to be powerful, haunting, and heartbreaking. Two sisters, Miranda and Lucia Bok, came to America from China with their mother after their father was killed in a car accident. Struggling to raise a young daughter and an infant (Lucia), their mother endured many tough years. Miranda and Lucia--both very smart, gifted young women. Except one day, Lucia begins to hear voices, and their lives are forever changed by mental illness. The story of the Bok sisters is one of love, anger, hope, anguish, and regret. Lucia's life is all over the map: she meets Yonah, marries him, and seems pretty stable for quite some time. He is the love of her life. And yet, she breaks down, and that begins the long cycle of highs and lows as she battles schizophrenia; her reluctance to t...