Bloomsbury to Publish The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim
The riveting story of two sisters, one raised in the United States, the other in South Korea, and the family that bound them together even as the Korean War kept them apart
‘A gorgeous achievement’ Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko
In 1948 Najin and Calvin Cho, with their young daughter Miran, travel from South Korea to the United States in search of new opportunities. Wary of the challenges ahead, Najin and Calvin make the difficult decision to leave their other daughter, Inja, behind with their extended family; soon, they hope, they will return to her.
But then war breaks out in Korea, and there is no end in sight to the separation. Miran grows up in prosperous American suburbia, under the shadow of the daughter left behind, as Inja grapples in her wartorn land with ties to a family she doesn’t remember. Najin and Calvin desperately seek a reunion with Inja, but are the bonds of love strong enough to reconnect their family over distance, time and war? And as deep family secrets are revealed, will everything they long for be upended?
Told through the alternating perspectives of the distanced sisters, and inspired by a true story, The Kinship of Secrets explores the cruelty of war, the power of hope, and what it means to be a sister.
Picture Credit: Bloomsbury
- A beautiful novel full of detailed and moving insight into a fascinating, unexplored period of recent Korean history
- For readers of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
- Inspired by true events, The Kinship of Secrets builds on the story developed in Eugenia Kim’s last book, The Calligrapher’s Daughter. Together the novels explore sixty years of modern Korean history
Reviews:
“The Kinship of Secrets is a beautiful allegory of loss and recovery. Through the parallel growth of two separated sisters, Kim bears witness to the fall and rise of nation and its resilient and generous people. The Kinship of Secrets is a gorgeous achievement” – Min Jin Lee, author of ‘Pachinko’
“Keenly and often lyrically observed … In quietly recording the arc of a woman’s experience from idyllic childhood through harrowing adulthood, Kim mirrors the changing nation”- Washington Post, Praise for ‘The Calligrapher’s Daughter’
Author Biography: Eugenia Kim’s debut novel, The Calligrapher’s Daughter, won the 2009 Borders Original Voices Award, was shortlisted for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was a 2009 Best Historical Novel and Critic’s Pick by the Washington Post. A Bennington College MFA graduate, Kim teaches at Fairfield University’s MFA Creative Writing Program. She lives in Washington, DC.