A dazzling and heartfelt novel about two sisters caught in their parents ambition, the accident that brings it all crashing down, and the journey that follows.
Everybodys heard of The Brightons.
From rags to riches, sleepy Oregon to haute New York, they are the biracial Chinese American family that built Kaleidoscope, a glittering, global bohemian shopping empire sourcing luxury goods from around the world. Statuesque, design savant, and family peteldest daughter Morgan Brighton is most celebrated of all. Yet despite her favored status, both within the family and in the press, nobody loves her more than Riley. Smart and nervy Riley Brighton whose existence is forever eclipsed by her older sisters presence. When a catastrophic event dismantles the Brightons world, it is Riley whos left with questions about her family that challenge her memory, identity, and loyalty. She sets off across the globe with an unlikely companion to seek truths about the people she thought she knew best herself included.
Using the brightly colored, shifting mosaic patterns of a kaleidoscope as its guide, and told in arresting, addictive fragments, Kaleidoscope is at once a reckoning with one familys flawed American Dream, and an examination of the precious bond between sisters. It reveals, too, the different kinds of love left to grow when tightly held stories are finally let go. At turns devastating and funny, warm and wise, sexy and transportive, Rileys journey confronts the meaning of freedom and travel, youth and innocence, and what it looks like to belong, grieve, and love on ones own terms.