Kristin T. Lee’s Debut We Mend with Gold Named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2026
A physician’s reckoning with the Western church, told through the Japanese art of kintsugi, earns a starred review and year-end recognition
LAKE MARY, FL—Publishers Weekly has named We Mend with Gold: An Immigrant Daughter’s Reckoning with American Christianity (Broadleaf Books, $27.99, ISBN 979-8-88983-502-8) by Kristin T. Lee, MD, one of its Best Books of 2026. The honor follows a starred review in which the trade publication called the book “a smart, searching look at the need for more inclusive forms of Christianity in the U.S.”
Drawing on kintsugi, the practice of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer, Lee explores how a childhood in an immigrant Chinese church in Iowa, one that kept Chinese customs while holding to white, patriarchal religious tradition, fractured her faith, and how that faith was ultimately fortified. Turning to the work of feminist and BIPOC theologians, Lee learned to dismantle the strictures of Western Christianity and to bring her experience as a Chinese American to reading Scripture and connecting with God.
Publishers Weekly praised the book as a “penetrating debut,” noting that Lee draws out with particular care how the challenging parts of the Asian American experience can deepen faith. Lee contends that marginality can foster closeness to Jesus, allowing believers to empathize with the communities American Christianity has silenced and negated.
“I am so shocked and flabbergasted and thrilled,” said Lee. “I couldn’t ask for a better team.”
“This is an incredible recognition of an amazing book,” said Valerie Weaver-Zercher, senior acquisitions editor at Broadleaf Books. “We are so honored to have published it, and I’m so thrilled that it has received this recognition.”
“Kristin’s incredible writing, sharp cultural analysis, and faithfulness to Jesus mesmerized me from my first reading of her proposal. I knew we had something special,” said Jevon Bolden, founder and CEO of Embolden Media Group and Lee’s literary agent. “This recognition is well deserved, and I’m excited for the readers who will find language for their own questions in these pages.”
We Mend with Gold is available now wherever books are sold. [Add purchase link.]
About the Author
Kristin T. Lee is a writer whose work has appeared in Christianity Today and Sojourners, and a primary care physician serving Boston’s Chinatown community. She writes about faith, culture, books, and solidarity at The Embers and is a contributing columnist to The Covenant Companion. Her passion is highlighting literature written by Asian and BIPOC authors through book reviews and reading groups on Instagram. Lee’s work is informed by her experiences as an adoptive mother, host to refugees, and friend to those affected by incarceration.
About Embolden Media Group
Embolden Media Group is a boutique literary agency and publishing consulting firm representing some of the most engaging, transformative, and authentic voices in our culture, including several New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and ECPA best-selling authors. Founded in 2017, Embolden Media Group is a market leader in cultivating and amplifying the works of women writers, authors of color, and forward-thinking creators whose diverse ideas move the world.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact: elodie.leroy@emboldenmediagroup.com.