Pachinko

Min Jin Lee

Head of Zeus, 2017 - Families - 537 pages

A victorian epic transplanted to Japan, following a Korean family of immigrants through eight decades and four generations.

∗ Shortlisted for the National Book Award ∗ ∗ One of the New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2017 ∗ Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja's salvation is just the beginning of her story. Through eight decades and four generations, Pachinko is an epic tale of family, identity, love, death and survival.

About the author

Min Jin Lee's debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires, was one of the "Top 10 Novels of the Year" for The Times (London), NPR's Fresh Air, and USA Today. Her short fiction has been featured on NPR's Selected Shorts. Her writings have appeared in Nast Traveler, The Times (London), Vogue, Travel+Leisure, Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine, and Food & Wine. Her essays and literary criticism have been anthologized widely. She served as a columnist for the Chosun Ilbo, the leading paper of South Korea. She lives in New York with her family.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Pachinko
• Author: Min Jin Lee
• Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2017
• ISBN: 178669137X, 9781786691378
• Length: 537 pages