Winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

A Vogue and NPR Best Book of the Year ? Featured on Barack Obama's Summer Reading List (2022)

An acclaimed storyteller returns with "a gorgeous and gripping literary mystery" that explores "family, betrayal, passion, race, culture and the American Dream" (Jean Kwok).

The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant's delicious Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. Whether or not Big Leo Chao is honest, or his wife, Winnie, is happy, their food tastes good and their three sons earned scholarships to respectable colleges. But when the brothers reunite in Haven, the Chao family's secrets and simmering resentments erupt at last.

Before long, brash, charismatic, and tyrannical patriarch Leo is found dead -- presumed murdered -- and his sons find they've drawn the exacting gaze of the entire town. The ensuing trial brings to light potential motives for all three brothers: Dagou, the restaurant's reckless head chef; Ming, financially successful but personally tortured; and the youngest, gentle but lost college student James. As the spotlight on the brothers tightens -- and the family dog meets an unexpected fate -- Dagou, Ming, and James must reckon with the legacy of their father's outsized appetites and their own future survival.

Brimming with heartbreak, comedy, and suspense, The Family Chao offers a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with the dark undercurrents of a seemingly pleasant small town.

• We started tracking this book on October 9, 2021.
• This book was $14.99 when we started tracking it.
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• The current price of this book is $9.99 last checked 8 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $2.99.
• The lowest price to date was $2.99 last reached on May 5, 2025.
• This book has been $2.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $14.99 last reached on October 9, 2021.
• This book has been $14.99 one time since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionLiterary FictionMystery, Thriller & Suspense
• Literature & FictionContemporary FictionLiterary

• Publication Date: February 1, 2022
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 321 Pages
• File Size: 26 KB