The Leftover Woman is an absolutely brilliant and extremely well crafted thriller. But it's way more than that. It's a statement about what it is to be a woman, a mother, a wife, a friend. What it is to be broken and to fight back against injustice.

The way the stories of Rebecca and Jasmine intersect was just mind blowingly brilliant. I am usually pretty good at predicting the direction thrillers are going in, but this one totally took me by surprise and I love it when that happens.

I loved the direction the author took this story in, and as well as being a heart in mouth page turner, this book gave me all the feels as it showed the best of human nature and what unconditional love really looks like.

Definitely one of my favourite reads of 2024.

My Thoughts: this book was brilliant! – part thriller, part women’s fiction, not a mix of genres I’d put together but wow did it work!

Two women who couldn’t be more different, but ultimately want the same thing, to be a mother & there’s nothing they won’t do to make that happen.

Fast paced, full of twists and turns that leave you not knowing which way is up.

I don’t want to say too much because it’ll ruin the whole addictive atmosphere of the book, there are so many important topics covered & done so well.

This book made me feel so many emotions, anger, sadness, happiness just name a few.

This is my first dive into Jean Kwoks writing and it definitely won’t be my last, this book will stay with me for a long time.

Jasmine arrives in New York, broke and alone, to escape her controlling husband back in a small village in China. She discovers that he gave up their baby girl for adoption after telling her that the baby died and she's determined to find her.
Thought this was beautifully written and heartfelt story of two women, from totally different worlds, whose lives collide.

This book!! I was not expecting this to be one of my top reads so far this year but it will be one i will be recommending to everyone now .
I'd class it as a literary thriller / mystery , with a plot twist half way through that i wasn't expecting , one of those moments when you stop reading and say wtf !

The novel is very atmospheric and you can feel yourself in the surroundings as you read (very similar vibes to the expatriates by Janice K Lee) . There are a lot of deep themes in the book, motherhood, immigration, poverty and privilege , it's a book that has very current issues and is not a far fetched mystery like many are nowadays . The characters are well developed, the writing is on point and i think this would make a great Netflix series .
I'll definitely be reading her earlier novels now

I found myself completely engaged and desperate to know the next development in this drama. Jasmine has escaped at all costs to America from rural China. She has escaped a life of abuse and degradation, in order to find a daughter that was said to have died at birth, but instead was given up for adoption in America. She arrives in New York with nothing but massive debts that enabled her passage. Jasmin must maintain her hope and drive, and not get sucked into the underbelly of New Yorks sordidness and crime. She has to find a way to survive and find her daughter. At the same time, we meet Rebecca who seems to have it all: a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband and an adopted Chinese daughter. It is inevitable that these two worlds worlds will collide but the excitement is in the "how".

So many intricate themes explored and intertwined, One child policy, immigration, survival, entitlement and privilege and underpinning it all hope for a better future. I enjoyed the development of the main characters and the twists and turns of the plot. For me the real test of a great story is one that retains its clarity and impact even after I've read my next five novels - and I this book is still as clear as a movie for me.

This is the story of two women. Jasmine has left her husband Wen in China and has paid the Triads to smuggle her into New York. In order to repay her debt she has to take a job in a strip club. She is looking for her young daughter who she gave up for a adoption. Rebecca, however, is, a wealthy editor at a top publishing house and is married to Brandon with a young adopted daughter..
This is the story of two mothers from very different backgrounds but who are linked together and both of whom have their own secrets.
An engrossing story which I enjoyed immensely.

The Leftover Woman is a complex and interesting story about the lives of two completely different women. Even though I didn't really like the characters, I loved the contrast and how strongly they were portrayed. The way this book is marketed does not match what it actually is. I wouldn't call it a thriller. Also, I didn't expect the writing style to be so YA-like which doesn't quite fit the story. Overall, I enjoyed the interesting insights but was not blown over by this book.

Oh wow, this one was definitely an amazing read! So much emotion and drama within that it makes it hard for you to stop reading. Great writing and the characters came alive on the pages. Must read!

This was a well-written book though the pacing was a little slow for me, maybe because I went in expecting a fast paced mystery/thriller. Nonetheless, this is my first read about China's one child policy and this part of the narrative tugged at my heartstrings. I can't imagine the agony that mothers endure due to this policy. Also, I can empathize with the struggles that new mothers face and so different aspects of the MCs' lives made me connect with the story. That said, the 2 women were not very likeable and this also impeded on my enjoyment of the story. Overall, I had mixed feelings about this book hence the rating.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy

Spellbinding. This was an emotive and thought- provoking read, Kwok is certainly an author to watch. thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. Highly recommended!

I recommend going in blind on this one. Before you do. What would you do for your child? How far would you go?

Beautifully written story of two women and their differences in life experiences, culture, status and the common thread that ties them together. We as the reader get a glimpse into their lives as their paths eventually reach a breaking point. Loved both characters and how the author makes them come to life.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC and a chance to give feedback.

This was a compelling read and so moving. Although fictional, the story is one which will have happened and a mother will have not known her child.

The unravelling of the story was well told and you felt for all the parties as both the birth and adopted mother loved their daughter and neither knew the others story.

A great read.

This was an interesting read, not sure I liked either of the characters.

This is fast paced and I really liked the alternative chapters between the characters, but I feel my dislike towards the characters, distracted from my enjoyment, I will be reading this again in the future

When I read the blurb for the one, I was really intrigued. I’d not read many books covering the topic of China’s one child policy. And whilst that must be horrible to endure on the part of the birth mother, TLW also examines life for the new parents (mostly the mother). Needless to say, it’s not all rosy and fluffy kittens. There’s some real challenges and heartache, as Kwok examines the concept of motherhood and identity for both cultures and people.

I will admit that I struggled to engage with TLW - I don’t know if the pacing didn’t gel or I just read if at the wrong time. But it has a bit of a mystery thriller thrown into the mix as there’s some events occurring in parallel that adds a different element to this which kept me interested.

Jasmine, the resilient "leftover woman," stands strong in the face of life's challenges, having weathered a tumultuous and difficult journey. She's on a solitary path, haunted by past trauma and desperate to reconnect with her adopted daughter who was lost along the way. Living in perpetual fear, she navigates a shifting landscape from the demanding world of strip clubs, where harassment is the norm, to the lurking dangers posed by criminals and the shadows of her history.

On the other side of the spectrum is Rebecca Whitney, a driven and ambitious woman concealing a secret within the opulent confines of her privileged life. Married to Columbia University professor Brandon, fluent in Chinese, Rebecca lives a life of wealth and luxury. A mother to an adopted Chinese girl named Fifi, she entrusts a Chinese nanny with her care. Juggling the demands of her high-pressure role as the editor-in-chief in publishing, Rebecca must navigate the intricate balance of her various roles.

The stage is set for high drama, with tensions and twists weaving through the lives of Jasmine and Rebecca. Their stories intertwine, creating a tapestry of suspense, drama, and unforeseen developments as they grapple with their struggles and the complex connections that bind them together.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Wow! What a book! It was an excellent experience reading this book.
Superb character development, plot twists and equal measures of tension. A satisfying ending too.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thank to the publishers for allowing me to read this book. I will be recommending this one for some time to come.

Jean Kwok's The Leftover Woman tells the story of two women - Rebecca, a wealthy, privileged member of New York's literary elite, and Jasmine, an illegal Chinese immigrant struggling to make enough money to repay the traffickers who brought her to America, and of the daughter who binds them together.

This masterful novel is best summarised in the author's own words:

'On the simplest level, it’s a compelling page-turner following a woman of color in the United States and the explosive secret she’s hiding. I see it as an interrogation of the way both women and immigrants need to split themselves into different personas and roles. I especially appreciated the concept of how a foreigner can only let a slice of themselves be seen in the new culture; the rest is hidden, the submerged part of the iceberg. It’s an intricate, tightly woven story about the price of ambition, displacement, and adoption. Its themes of motherhood, identity, romantic love, and race are specific and universal at the same time.'

Though this description is attributed to Rebecca in reference to the fictional novel she is hoping to edit, it perfectly articulates the brilliance of Leftover Woman. The narrative is deftly crafted, immersing the reader in the starkly contrasting worlds of the two protagonists. Jasmine, we learn, was rejected by her family thanks to the one-child policy enforced by the Chinese government. From birth, she has internalised the message that her only worth is in her beauty, and ultimately her ability to bear sons. She journeys to New York upon finding out that her husband secretly had their daughter adopted at birth by an American friend, telling his wife that their baby girl had died. Meanwhile, Rebecca is the rich, successful daughter of a publishing magnate, the archetypal 'woke' but oblivious wealthy white woman. Kwok frontloads the book with Jasmine's story of tragedy, abandonment, abuse, her descriptions of grief some of the most powerful I have read:

'Wind swept through my internal landscape, sending leaves scuttling, trees uprooted and twisting any remaining light into shadows.'

Thus, when Rebecca is introduced, she is set up in diametric opposition to Jasmine. Her concerns seem absurdly trivial - we meet her agonising over the right type of luxury olives to purchase for a high end soirée - and there is a very deliberate shift from Jasmine feeling bereft and betrayed by her husband to Rebecca feeling irked by her mother's impossibly high standards - for condiments. She has a prestigious job, while Jasmine can't even find work as a waitress. She has foisted her daughter upon her Chinese nanny, Lucy, while Jasmine would do anything to reunite with hers. That Rebecca is able to generate any sympathy at all is a tribute to Kwok's stellar writing.

Through the two women's interwined stories, Kwok highlights some of the universal truths of being a woman. Both women struggle to assert themselves and achieve their goals in societies beholden to patriarchal structures; both are wrestling with debilitating grief. Additionally, Kwok uses both narratives to illustrate the experience of being an immigrant woman of colour, contrasting Rebecca's grand ambitions with Jasmine's pragmatic attitude to life:

'We were immigrants. There was no room in our lives for lofty visions of individual self-fulfillment. To carve out a bit of breathing room in this country’s future, already packed with so many others’ dreams, that was enough for us. All we wanted was to meet our basic needs: shelter, food, safety, and possibly, someday, something better for our children.'

Through Jasmine's experiences in New York, Kwok vividly encapsulates the isolation of arriving in a country where you don't speak the language and where most people don't look like you.

'Back home, so much of my identity was mirrored through other people’s eyes. The village I came from, the school I went to, my family name, those all had meaning in China. Here they stood for nothing—all those details disappeared when you were an immigrant, and suddenly all that was left of you was whatever you carried inside.'

This idea is reinforced through the contrast between how Rebecca sees her own Chinese immigrant nanny - as simple, stupid, graceless and unsophisticated - and the complexity that is evident in Jasmine's character. She has her own ideas, experiences, strengths and vulnerabilities, yet women like Rebecca don't make the effort to get to women like Jasmine - or Lucy - because they naïvely think they already know all there is to know about them. Here we see the irony in Rebecca's comments about the book she wishes to edit: she can be incredibly insightful and sensitive when considering women of colour as works of fiction (or, arguably, as cash cows), yet she cannot apply this approach to dealing with Lucy. Indeed, for a large part of the text, Jasmine's chapters describe the world as she sees it with vivid figurative language, which juxtaposes with Rebecca's plainer, more everyday prose and undermines the American woman's innate sense of superiority.

Overall, I found The Leftover Woman to be a fascinating, thought-provoking novel. My only minor gripe is with the ending, which feels rushed and abrupt after such an elegantly crafted build-up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Profile Books for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

This novel of international adoption gone wrong was at times riveting and at times irritating. A fast paced read told in alternating chapters of two women who are very different but have one thing in common. Motherhood. I liked the profession of editor of one of the women. there were also some twists to the story. However, none of the characters are very likable. Even the dogs are yappy. The story takes a contrived turn and although I wanted to finish it I found fault in the character development across the board. And the predictable ending.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley