The Calligrapher's Daughter - Softcover

`Eugenia Kim's sensitive first novel, which depicts thirty years of Korea's modern history in light of its ancient, is an illuminating prequel to present-day events ... Kim recounts a poignant family history, much of it based on her own mothers life ... The narrative is keenly and often lyrically observed ... Kim's account acquires depth and immediacy as she draws vivid pictures of wartime poverty and hardship ... In quietly recording the arc of a woman's experience from idyllic childhood through harrowing adulthood, Kim mirrors the changing nation' --Washington Post

`A beautiful, deliberate and satisfying story spanning thirty years of Korean history . . . Elegant' --Publishers Weekly

`Exquisite ... hauntingly beautiful ... from the first gripping sentence you'll fear coming to the final sentence of this fascinating debut' --The Examiner

`The Calligrapher's Daughter fascinated me, as much for its characters as for its engrossing story of Korea under the Japanese occupation. Najin's father is admirable for exactly the traits that make him difficult, and her apparently passive mother is heroic. I can't stop thinking about them and their honest, brave, and very human daughter' --Alice Mattison, author of The Book Borrower

`Kim has excelled at portraying Najin as a spirited yet loyal daughter and wife while exposing a tragic time during Korea's sustained history as a nation' --Library Journal