American Hagwon

‘Breathtaking ... I adored it’ ELIF SHAFAK

‘Masterful’ DOUGLAS STUART

‘Another future classic’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Min Jin Lee, the acclaimed author of Pachinko, returns with a breathtaking epic that follows one family as they reckon with 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?

American Hagwon is the most ambitious and extraordinary work yet by one of our greatest novelists.

A most anticipated book of the year in Guardian, New York Times, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Independent, and more.

‘One of the most important novelists of her generation’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘A sweeping, stirring, epic’ iPAPER

‘I will be thinking about this deeply affecting novel for a long time’ NICOLA STURGEON, in OBSERVER

‘A grand multigenerational saga from the best to ever do it’ VOGUE AUSTRALIA

‘Engrossing ... Brilliantly imagined’ COLM TÓIBÍN, author of Long Island

‘If your faith in either humanity or storytelling has dimmed, this will make it blaze again’ KAMILA SHAMSIE, author of Best of Friends

‘An absolute joy that you will take with you for the rest of your life’ JOANNA CANNON, author of An Unlikely Visitor

‘Extraordinary ... So rich and intricate that you forget you're reading’ TARA WESTOVER, author of Educated

‘A moving reflection on family, ambition and duty’ MONOCLE

‘An extraordinary diasporic quartet’ HARPER'S BAZAAR