November 13, 2017
Bracht’s debut novel explores the horrors of war and the fortitude of familial bonds. In 1943 Korea, 16-year-old Hana is a haenyeo, a female diver who helps support her family with the catches she finds in the sea. But her life is forever altered when, in an attempt to hide her little sister, Emi, from a Japanese soldier, she is captured and forced to work at a brothel as a prostitute for Japanese soldiers in Manchuria. The story jumps forward to 2011, when Emi is in Seoul to visit her daughter, to find her sister, and to participate in the weekly Wednesday demonstrations that are held in front of the Japanese embassy to demand justice for the “comfort women” who were forced to become prostitutes during World War II. Emi has carried her guilt about Hana’s abduction for decades, but now believes she may finally have a chance to find out what happened to her sister. Masterfully crafted, Bracht’s mesmerizing debut novel is rich with historical detail and depth of emotion. This is a memorable story about the courage of Korean women during the Second World War. Agent: Rowan Lawton, Furniss Lawton Agency.
January 1, 2018
A debut novel about the Korean "comfort women" prostituted by Japanese soldiers in World War II--and the strong bond between two sisters separated by the conflict. Sixteen-year-old Hana lives with her parents and younger sister, Emi, on Jeju Island off the southern coast of Korea. It's 1943, and though the country has been under Japanese occupation for decades, the family has lived a relatively peaceful existence: Hana and her mother are haenyeos (divers), and her father is a fisherman. Then Hana is kidnapped by a Japanese soldier and brought to a military brothel, where she and other young Korean women are forced into sexual slavery. She tries to escape several times, without much luck. Hana's sorrowful story is intercut with Emi's narrative, set in 2011 on Jeju Island and in Seoul. Coerced into a loveless marriage with a Korean policeman, Emi is now an elderly widow with two adult children and horrific memories of what happened to her parents and her village in the run-up to the Korean War. Emi is still searching for her lost sister and blaming herself for Hana's disappearance--Hana had shielded Emi from the Japanese soldier, preventing her from being captured. Both narratives end on hopeful, albeit somewhat unbelievable, notes. The book's author, an American of Korean descent, writes well--the passages describing the sisters' early lives are quite lyrical--and she's adept at weaving in historical material about Korea and its fraught relationship with Japan. (The Japanese only apologized for the comfort women in the 1990s, and controversy persists.) But the novel is so relentlessly and explicitly brutal it runs the risk of numbing, or perhaps exhausting, the reader.The white chrysanthemum is a Korean symbol of mourning--appropriate for this worthy novel.
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November 1, 2017
Her sister didn't see the Japanese soldier on the beach, but Hana did. The 16-year-old was diving into the sea off their Korean island, earning her livelihood by harvesting the seabed, as her mother had taught her. The next few moments would change the course of both hers and her sister's lives, as Hana saved her sister from catching the attention of the officer, only to be captured herself. Imprisoned in a brothel in Manchuria to serve as a comfort woman for soldiers to rape, and given special attention from the man who captured her on the beach, Hana hangs on to her fighting spirit in even the darkest circumstances, never giving up the hope of escape. More than half a century later, her sister faces her own struggle with the burden of Hana's sacrifice and the secrets she kept from her family about what she suffered after being forced into a loveless marriage. This captivating and heartbreaking debut novel honors the many thousands of women who were enslaved through WWII.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)
Starred review from November 15, 2017
DEBUT Newcomer Bracht's novel draws readers into a seaside paradise where haenyeo (female sea divers) follow the rhythm of the ocean tide to maintain an illusion of independence during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The illusion is shattered on Jeju Island in 1943 when a Japanese soldier takes 16-year-old Hana from her nine-year-old sister Emi's side to become a "comfort woman"--a mild name for Hana's brutal experience as a sex slave for the occupying military. Almost 70 years later, Emi travels to Seoul from her tiny island, searching for answers and closure regarding a sister she barely remembers. Bracht's breathless pacing in alternating chapters between Hana and Emi provides a suspenseful and eye-opening historical work reminiscent of Christina Baker Kline's Orphan Train, Jamie Ford's Songs of Willow Frost, and Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours. VERDICT In this story of a community nearly obliterated by war but saved by the strength of will of generations of women, Bracht humanizes tragedy while highlighting important social issues. Once they devour this book, readers will be looking for more information on the Korean comfort women. [See Prepub Alert, 7/9/17.]--Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
DEBUT Newcomer Bracht's novel draws readers into a seaside paradise where haenyeo (female sea divers) follow the rhythm of the ocean tide to maintain an illusion of independence during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The illusion is shattered on Jeju Island in 1943 when a Japanese soldier takes 16-year-old Hana from her nine-year-old sister Emi's side to become a "comfort woman"--a mild name for Hana's brutal experience as a sex slave for the occupying military. Almost 70 years later, Emi travels to Seoul from her tiny island, searching for answers and closure regarding a sister she barely remembers. Bracht's breathless pacing in alternating chapters between Hana and Emi provides a suspenseful and eye-opening historical work reminiscent of Christina Baker Kline's Orphan Train, Jamie Ford's Songs of Willow Frost, and Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours. VERDICT In this story of a community nearly obliterated by war but saved by the strength of will of generations of women, Bracht humanizes tragedy while highlighting important social issues. Once they devour this book, readers will be looking for more information on the Korean comfort women. [See Prepub Alert, 7/9/17.]--Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Hana's desperate attempt to protect her sister in 1943 occupied Korea results in her being abducted to serve as a "comfort woman" to Japanese troops. Readers will be drawn in by the harrowing true history and Hana's determination to overcome horrific circumstances. (LJ 11/15/17)
Copyright 1 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.