-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
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.
Everybody's 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 pet—eldest 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 sister's presence. When a catastrophic event dismantles the Brightons' world, it is Riley who's 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 family's 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, Riley's journey confronts the meaning of freedom and travel, youth and innocence, and what it looks like to belong, grieve, and love on one's own terms.
"Wong (Diamond Head) captures the fierce bond and stark differences between two mixed-race Chinese American sisters, one of whom dies in a freak accident, in her penetrating latest...The author balances her characters' palpable emotions with whip-smart commentary on cultural commodification...It's a smash." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Told from various perspectives, skipping backward and forward through time, the kaleidoscopic narrative allows readers to form their own opinions about the Brightons and their decisions, getting a glimpse of the way people behave on the worst days of their lives and thereafter. A deftly written family saga that explores—and challenges—the contemporary American dream and the meaning of home and family." - Kirkus Reviews
"Telling a beautiful and heartbreaking story through fragments of the sisters' lives, Wong shows how they've been shaped by the many experiences they've lived through, and how different perspectives can change the way we understand the truth." - Booklist
"Cecily Wong's Kaleidoscope is an evocative novel about sisterhood, ambition, self-knowledge, and how we carry forward after loss. I imagine many readers will find themselves in these pages." - Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"Sparkling with sharp observations and deeply wise in its insights, Kaleidoscope is a moving portrayal of the tangled knot of sisterhood and the dizzying spiral of grief. Cecily Wong's dazzling second novel deftly explores the complex push-pull of family and ambition, and the ways we learn to define ourselves in—and out of—our loved ones' orbits." - Celeste Ng, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere
"Set in cities as vibrant as its characters, Kaleidoscope tracks a physical and emotional journey through grief, healing, and deeper understanding. In it, twin stories of sibling love and romantic love are woven together to ultimately tell a nuanced story of self-love. I ached for Morgan and Riley, for how strong their bond was despite the secrets they kept. Wong's wisdom of the heart shines." - Lucy Tan, author of What We Were Promised
This information about Kaleidoscope was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Cecily Wong is the author of the novel Diamond Head, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, the recipient of an Elle Readers' Prize, and voted a best debut of the Brooklyn Book Festival. She is also the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, Self magazine, Real Simple, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of Barnard College and lives in Portland, Oregon.
If you liked Kaleidoscope, try these:
by Caoilinn Hughes
Published 2025
From the writer Anthony Doerr calls "a massive talent," the story of four brilliant Irish sisters, orphaned in childhood, who scramble to reconnect when the oldest disappears into the Irish countryside.
by Celeste Ng
Published 2015
A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait.
by Cate Kennedy
Published 2011
A compassionate and unswerving portrait of a broken family whose members go to extraordinary lengths to reclaim their lives and relationships from the mistakes of the past.
Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
