**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.
