American Hagwon
‘Extraordinary … Min Jin Lee has constructed a world so rich and intricate that you forget you’re reading’ TARA WESTOVER
‘Magnificent … a work of grace and beauty’ MATTHEW DESMOND
Min Jin Lee, the acclaimed author of the major global bestseller Pachinko, returns with a breathtaking contemporary epic that follows one family as they reckon with ambition and moderation, love and loyalty, personal dreams and familial duty.
John and Helen Koh and their three children – Bo, DH and Mido – are building new lives in Korea when they find their worlds upended, first by a terrible betrayal and then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Striving to regain their footing, the Kohs set out to do whatever it takes to provide for their children’s futures. They leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in California, where new opportunities open for the Koh children, as the parents, strangers in a strange land, adjust to a difficult existence in which their qualifications mean little. Their way forward is lit by the faith that education will lead the next generation to the success and security that have eluded their parents.
The Kohs, their friends, relatives and even their foes move in and out of each other’s lives as they navigate love, work, fortune and fulfilment across the years. But with each new sacrifice and fresh horizon, larger questions begin to open up before them: what are we willing to give up to secure the happiness of the ones we love? What is the purpose of education? And what is truly important for a good life?
In American Hagwon, Min Jin Lee has crafted a transcendent, panoramic novel of profound emotional richness, where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions. This is the most ambitious and extraordinary work yet by one of our greatest novelists.
Praise for American Hagwon: -
‘A novel of extraordinary ambition. Min Jin Lee has constructed a world so rich and intricate that you forget you're reading … A stunning achievement’ Tara Westover, author of Educated -
‘Magnificent – a deep education from a master storyteller … American Hagwon is among the very best novels of immigration. A work of grace and beauty that unspools one thread at a time, much like life itself’ Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted -
Praise for Pachinko: -
‘Stunning … Despite the compelling sweep of time and history, it is the characters and their tumultuous lives that propel the narrative … Lee suggests that behind the facades of wildly different people lie countless private desires, hopes and miseries, if we have the patience and compassion to look and listen’ New York Times Book Review -
‘A rich, moving novel about exile, identity and the determination to endure’ Sunday Times -
‘Vivid and immersive, Pachinko is a rich tribute to a people that history seems intent on erasing’ Guardian -
‘Min Jin Lee's storytelling is effortless’ Stylist -
‘I found myself unable to put it down. Every year, there are a few standout novels that survive long past the hype has died down … Pachinko, a masterpiece of empathy, integrity and familial loyalty, will be one of those novels’ Irish Times -
‘Min Jin Lee has produced a beautifully realized saga of an immigrant family in a largely hostile land, trying to establish its own way of belonging’ TLS -
‘Expansive, elegant and utterly absorbing … Combining the detail of a documentary with the empathy of the best fiction, it's a sheer delight’ Daily Mail -
‘A deep, broad, addictive history of a Korean family in Japan enduring and prospering through the 20th century’ David Mitchell, author of Utopia Avenue -
‘Captivating … Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion’ Barack Obama -