Song for Another Home

Summary

Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko meets Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing in this powerful story of family separation and reunion, as well as love and war from a Reese’s Book Club LitUp fellow.

In 1950, when America enters the war between North and South Korea, everyone believes the conflict is all but over. Surely it is only a matter of time before Oksoon’s father and eldest brother will return from the South, where they have gone to look for opportunities. But when China enters the fight, Oksoon, her middle brother, and their mother must quickly decide whether to flee south toward Seoul or wait in Pyongyang for their family’s return. With winter closing in and very few resources left, the trek won’t be easy. Yet remaining at home is untenable as the fighting draws ever closer.

Meanwhile, far to the south near Jinju, Oksoon’s cousin Junho flees the war to find refuge at the Lord’s Beloved Home for Children. As the orphanage struggles to keep its doors open, Junho is put in charge of drafting letters to rich American benefactors, convincing them to send money to Korea. But when the enigmatic orphanage director brings her aristocratic niece to stay at the Home, Junho finds himself caught between his impulse for survival and his growing affections, which put him at risk of being expelled from the only safe place he knows.

Movingly rendered, Song for Another Home highlights the tension between personal dreams and duty to family, the power of resilience, and how choices made in a brief moment have consequences that reverberate for lifetimes.