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This “sweeping intergenerational saga" tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends (Kirstin Chen)—and fights off a tragic curse that could devastate generations to come.
In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come.
Hak Jeonga has always shouldered the burden of upholding the family name. When she sent her daughter-in-law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth, she was simply doing what was needed to preserve the reputations of her loved ones. How could she have known that decades later, this decision would return to haunt her—threatening to tear apart her bond with her beloved son, her relationship with her infuriatingly insolent sisters, and the future of the family she has worked so hard to protect?
Part ghost story and part family epic, The Apology is an incisive tale of sisterhood and diaspora, reaching back to the days of Japanese colonialism and the Korean War, and told through the singular voice of a defiant, funny, and unforgettable centenarian.
Genre: Horror
This “sweeping intergenerational saga" tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends (Kirstin Chen)—and fights off a tragic curse that could devastate generations to come.
In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come.
Hak Jeonga has always shouldered the burden of upholding the family name. When she sent her daughter-in-law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth, she was simply doing what was needed to preserve the reputations of her loved ones. How could she have known that decades later, this decision would return to haunt her—threatening to tear apart her bond with her beloved son, her relationship with her infuriatingly insolent sisters, and the future of the family she has worked so hard to protect?
Part ghost story and part family epic, The Apology is an incisive tale of sisterhood and diaspora, reaching back to the days of Japanese colonialism and the Korean War, and told through the singular voice of a defiant, funny, and unforgettable centenarian.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"The Apology is a remarkable achievement, weaving together psychological suspense, Korean myth, and an intense scrutiny of family relationships as these are influenced by war and history. Calling to mind the scathing emotional precision of Elena Ferrante and the Korean gender and social critique of Han Kang, Jimin Han is a force to be reckoned with in this novel - and so is Mrs. Jeonga Cha, resourceful and brave matriarch, both in this life and the next." - Chaya Bhuvaneswar
"The Apology is an uncanny high wire act - arch, tender, mercurial. Jimin Han feels like Iris Murdoch's heir here, even as this novel came from an artistry that is all her own. This is a story unlike any other of Korea and America, and of a mother's love - majestic, a deathless avenger, shrewd and wild; an ajumma willing to do anything for her family, including defying death." - Alexander Chee
"Han's remarkable story, at times hilarious, always gripping, took me on a journey with her unrelenting 105 year-old protagonist who refuses to let anything, even death, stop her from saving her family from the impending disaster she put into motion decades earlier. I couldn't stop reading until I reached the last word, and then I read it again." - Patricia Dunn
"With a deft brush, Han paints the quirks and preoccupations of old age as the secrets of her heroine jettison her across the world and right smack into another one, literally. What follows is an inspiring, often funny, and always engaging tale of the complications of familial love." - Gloria E Hatrick
"The sins of the parents revisited on the children - it's an iconic theme but one that feels razor-sharp in Jimin Han's new novel, The Apology. Jeonga Cha, a wealthy and prideful South Korean centenarian, gets a rude awakening when a decision of passion she made decades ago seems destined to cause catastrophe for her progeny. Her need to correct her mistake takes her around the world and even into the afterlife, where she confronts truths she never wanted to face as she pursues a better outcome. Unique and totally absorbing, The Apology is a story that delves into matters of family, love, tradition and harsh self-awareness as it exposes the secrets we hold from others - and those we keep from ourselves." - Barbara Josselsohn
"What does it mean to be the keeper of the stories? What does it mean to be left behind? The Apology shows Jimin Han's talents as a skillful storyteller, interweaving questions of sisterhood and separation, generational secrets and ancestral love, through a singular and unforgettable centenarian voice." - Lisa Ko
"In The Apology, Jimin Han deftly threads a comedic line through a multigenerational family chock full of grievances and perceived slights. The impudent yet vulnerable narrator Jeonga shows us something she'd never reveal to her sisters: her pain and her joy. She'll fight to the death - and beyond - to do what she thinks is right, and she'll win the hearts of readers while doing so." - Ed Lin
"Jimin Han's The Apology delights and surprises at every turn - at every chapter, every page. The narrator is a cranky centennial! There are family secrets plus wonderful comedic passages in a novel that doesn't shy from history or death. It's a comic novel with a serious touch, it's a serious novel with a comic touch, it's the rare combo, serious and comic all at once, deeply felt, deeply alive, brilliantly rendered and willing to explore the complicated affiliations that form along bloodlines, generational divides, class, and love. Also? A hell of a good read, generous with its ghosts both literal and figurative, told with wit and relish." - Juan Martinez
"An intriguing, genre-bending novel that proves that the bonds - and grudges - of siblinghood exist beyond the grave. Insightful about secret-keeping and hopeful about the redemptive power of love, Jimin Han is a literary medium for imperfec families." - Courtney Maum
"Like magic, this book is at once a page-turning mystery, a supernatural odyssey, a family saga, and a Korean melodrama. Count me forever among Han's audience." - Matthew Salesses
"It begins with a bus accident, but really it began so long ago. THE APOLOGY is a work of tenderness and empathy, a portrait of family and memory, of different generations colliding across multiple dimensions both literal and the afterlife. Jimin Han has conjured more than ghosts here, and you should listen to her story." - Michael J Seidlinger
"What a superb story this is, unweaving the tangle of family history - and the wrongheaded honor that has walled out love - as this remarkable novel moves from the unguessable to the expansively imagined. It's a maze of leaps - across boundaries beyond the known - as one woman grapples with the impossible question of how wrongs can be righted. A memorable and wonderfully original book." - Joan Silber
"The Apology is a vividly rendered novel about the long life spans of secrets, featuring an unforgettable 105-year-old narrator who is as stubborn and proud as she is spirited. With depth, emotion, and total clarity of vision, Jimin Han has crafted a wonderfully moving story about love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, and the lengths that one woman will go to in this world and the next to undo the mistakes of the past." - Jung Yun
"The Apology is an uncanny high wire act - arch, tender, mercurial. Jimin Han feels like Iris Murdoch's heir here, even as this novel came from an artistry that is all her own. This is a story unlike any other of Korea and America, and of a mother's love - majestic, a deathless avenger, shrewd and wild; an ajumma willing to do anything for her family, including defying death." - Alexander Chee
"Han's remarkable story, at times hilarious, always gripping, took me on a journey with her unrelenting 105 year-old protagonist who refuses to let anything, even death, stop her from saving her family from the impending disaster she put into motion decades earlier. I couldn't stop reading until I reached the last word, and then I read it again." - Patricia Dunn
"With a deft brush, Han paints the quirks and preoccupations of old age as the secrets of her heroine jettison her across the world and right smack into another one, literally. What follows is an inspiring, often funny, and always engaging tale of the complications of familial love." - Gloria E Hatrick
"The sins of the parents revisited on the children - it's an iconic theme but one that feels razor-sharp in Jimin Han's new novel, The Apology. Jeonga Cha, a wealthy and prideful South Korean centenarian, gets a rude awakening when a decision of passion she made decades ago seems destined to cause catastrophe for her progeny. Her need to correct her mistake takes her around the world and even into the afterlife, where she confronts truths she never wanted to face as she pursues a better outcome. Unique and totally absorbing, The Apology is a story that delves into matters of family, love, tradition and harsh self-awareness as it exposes the secrets we hold from others - and those we keep from ourselves." - Barbara Josselsohn
"What does it mean to be the keeper of the stories? What does it mean to be left behind? The Apology shows Jimin Han's talents as a skillful storyteller, interweaving questions of sisterhood and separation, generational secrets and ancestral love, through a singular and unforgettable centenarian voice." - Lisa Ko
"In The Apology, Jimin Han deftly threads a comedic line through a multigenerational family chock full of grievances and perceived slights. The impudent yet vulnerable narrator Jeonga shows us something she'd never reveal to her sisters: her pain and her joy. She'll fight to the death - and beyond - to do what she thinks is right, and she'll win the hearts of readers while doing so." - Ed Lin
"Jimin Han's The Apology delights and surprises at every turn - at every chapter, every page. The narrator is a cranky centennial! There are family secrets plus wonderful comedic passages in a novel that doesn't shy from history or death. It's a comic novel with a serious touch, it's a serious novel with a comic touch, it's the rare combo, serious and comic all at once, deeply felt, deeply alive, brilliantly rendered and willing to explore the complicated affiliations that form along bloodlines, generational divides, class, and love. Also? A hell of a good read, generous with its ghosts both literal and figurative, told with wit and relish." - Juan Martinez
"An intriguing, genre-bending novel that proves that the bonds - and grudges - of siblinghood exist beyond the grave. Insightful about secret-keeping and hopeful about the redemptive power of love, Jimin Han is a literary medium for imperfec families." - Courtney Maum
"Like magic, this book is at once a page-turning mystery, a supernatural odyssey, a family saga, and a Korean melodrama. Count me forever among Han's audience." - Matthew Salesses
"It begins with a bus accident, but really it began so long ago. THE APOLOGY is a work of tenderness and empathy, a portrait of family and memory, of different generations colliding across multiple dimensions both literal and the afterlife. Jimin Han has conjured more than ghosts here, and you should listen to her story." - Michael J Seidlinger
"What a superb story this is, unweaving the tangle of family history - and the wrongheaded honor that has walled out love - as this remarkable novel moves from the unguessable to the expansively imagined. It's a maze of leaps - across boundaries beyond the known - as one woman grapples with the impossible question of how wrongs can be righted. A memorable and wonderfully original book." - Joan Silber
"The Apology is a vividly rendered novel about the long life spans of secrets, featuring an unforgettable 105-year-old narrator who is as stubborn and proud as she is spirited. With depth, emotion, and total clarity of vision, Jimin Han has crafted a wonderfully moving story about love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, and the lengths that one woman will go to in this world and the next to undo the mistakes of the past." - Jung Yun
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