Jean Kwok is the award-winning, New York Times and international bestselling Chinese American author of the novels Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown,[1] and Searching for Sylvie Lee, which was chosen as The Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick.

[9] Kwok's debut novel Girl in Translation was published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, in May 2010 and became a New York Times and international bestseller.

Kwok drew upon her personal experience to write this novel about an exceptionally bright young girl who leads a double life in an exclusive private school and a Chinatown sweatshop.

"[12] Hannah Lee in the Philadelphia Jewish Voice noted that Girl in Translation was "as accurate to my childhood and upbringing in the world of New York's garment factories as a novel can be.

This novel about a young Chinese American woman searching for her older sister who had disappeared while on a trip to the Netherlands was an instant New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and combined print and ebook fiction, as well as hitting the USA Today, Apple, Amazon, Publishers Weekly and American Booksellers Association bestseller lists.

More than a fast-paced thriller, Searching for Sylvie Lee is a meditation on dislocation, the gulf that separates generations of migrants, and the price of achieving some version of the American dream.

"[30] The Washington Post called it, "A moving tale that, while billed as a mystery, transcends the genre… a beautifully written story in which the author evokes the hard reality of being an immigrant and a woman in today's world.

"[31] PEN America wrote, "Jean Kwok’s latest novel examines cultural and linguistic barriers, family secrets, change, and the expansive identities of immigrants.