A “heartwarming and heartbreaking“* story of a Korean American girl’s search for her roots
Somebody’s Daughter is the story of nineteen-year-old Sarah Thorson, who was adopted as a baby by a Lutheran couple in the Midwest. After dropping out of college, she decides to study in Korea and becomes more and more intrigued by her Korean heritage, eventually embarking on a crusade to find her birth mother. Paralleling Sarah’s story is that of Kyung-sook, who was forced by difficult circumstances to let her baby be swept away from her immediately after birth, but who has always longed for her lost child.
“What a beautifully realized and emotionally rich but subtle novel this is. Lee’s story of one young woman’s search for self in Korea will resonate equally with both adult and young adult readers-a remarkable achievement.” -Michael Cart, author of Necessary Noise: Stories of Our Families as They Really Are
“Somebody’s Daughter is a gift for those forgotten, for the thousands of Korean children adopted by white parents, for those who search and yearn for a sense of home and self.” -Nora Okja Keller, author of Comfort Woman and Fox Girl
“If you’re looking for a book that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, then this is for you. Sarah’s search for her mother and Kyung-sook’s search for her daughter are guaranteed tearjerkers.” -Taylor Amato, Elle Girl*
“Lee manages to be both comic and frank in this story of one girl’s journey back to Korea and her lost mother’s own journey toward redemption.” -Ann Hood, author of The Ornithologist’s Guide to Life
“Sarah’s wry honesty is just one of the pleasures of this wonderfully observed novel . . . Somebody’s Daughter is a treat.” -Ellen Shapiro, People
“Sumptuous and emotionally stunning . . . Once you begin this novel, you won’t be able to put it down, infused as it is with our fragile sense of self, the search for natural parents to anchor one’s identity, and Lee’s elegant, imagistically sinuous prose that continually stabs the heart.” -Sam Coale, Providence Journal
“Somebody’s Daughter is that rare book, that rare page-turner, the one you cannot put down, the one you will suspend washing the laundry for or cooking breakfast for. It is the novel you will open and read in one urgent breath as you take in the storyteller’s compelling tale of lives felt long after the book’s end as you turn off the light to sleep.” -Lois-Ann Yamanaka, author of Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers
“Be prepared to put yourself in the adoptee’s frame of mind. It is written from our viewpoint, and it’s a keeper.” -Eun Mi Young, Adoptive Families
“Her colorful characters crackle and pop off the page . . . A grown-up gem of a novel where joy mingles with sorrow, and heartbreak is laced with hope.” -Allison Block, Booklist, starred review