Somebody's Daughter

Imagine giving birth to a daughter and having her whisked away moments later. Imagine being left to wonder for the rest of your days what became of her. This is the story of Kyung-sook, a Korean woman who fell in love, only to be abandoned at her most vulnerable moment. Imagine being adopted, and growing up six thousand miles from the land of your birth, always wondering what your birth mother was like. Imagine being told that your birth parents died so your new parents could raise you to be an all-American girl. This is the story of Sarah Thorson, who discovers the truth about her birth when she is nineteen. Sarah's story begins when she drops out of the University of Minnesota and, more by happenstance than design, decides to study in Korea. As the summer progresses, Sarah becomes more and more intrigued by her Korean heritage, eventually discovering the truth about her adoption: her birth mother did not die in a car crash. With the help of two remarkable men, Jun-Ho Kim, a Korean hoping to befriend Americans, and Doug Henderson, a Korean American struggling with his mixed heritage, Sarah embarks on a crusade to find her birth mother that leads her to a deepening involvement with the culture, language, and people of Korea as she opens windows into the mysterious circumstances of her birth. The stories of Sarah and Kyung-sook are told side by side: will they find each other?

Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of three young adult novels, including Finding My Voice and Saying Goodbye, has received many honors for her writing, among them an O. Henry honorable mention, and both Best Book for Young Adults and Best Book for Reluctant Readers citations from the American Library Association. She is currently a visiting scholar at her alma mater, Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island.