What a saga! I cannot even imagine leaving my child in another country for a few years that turns into 15 years! Yet this is the decision Inja’s parents make. I was completely intrigued by Inja’s life in Korea. And then to journey with her to America! My heart broke for her loss of her Korean family and the confusion of America. The Kinship of Secrets was a beautiful book. Plus I learned some Korean history.

Shortly before the Korean conflict turned into a fully militarized conflict, Calvin Cho took his wife, Najin, and one of his daughters, Miran to the USA to raise money for a church. They decided to leave their other daughter, Inja, in the care of Najin's brother.

Calvin worked as a translator and announcer for the US military radio. They did not foresee that it would be many years before the end of the Korean War ended and their family situation would change. They desperately wanted Inja to join them or for them all to return to Korea. The plot circles the facts of that time in history. The narrative is a POV perspective given to us by each girl's inner monologue as they grow up, trying to cope with the lifestyles they cannot change.

Miran loses her ability and desire to speak Korean. She becomes a typical American teenager, resenting her family for the sparse lifestyle of her family as they send every penny they make back to her family in Korea.

Inja is a good student but lives a difficult life in poverty, taking care of her grandmother. Her love for her uncle is the shining light in her heart. She dreads the possibility of being forced to go to the USA. Her family is in Korea, her friends, her school. Inja's greatest fear is that her family will not return to Korea but demand that she goes to the USA.

This novel mines the hearts and souls of victims of war, poverty, religious prejudice, and separation. We read about victims of war and dictatorships all over the world every day. Ms. Kim has given us a real story based on facts of an actual family's grief many years ago.

This novel is a gift at a time when we need to read the inspiration that survival gives us at a time when so many suffering people are trying to flee similar situations.

I received an advanced copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.

As tensions increase on the Korean peninsula, Miran and Inja’s parents decide to emigrate to the US. However, they leave Inja behind Korea with her grandparents. The parents tell their Korean family they will return the next year, but that year comes and goes and they are unable to return. Inja’s mother, Najin, sends packages home with presents for Inja inside not realizing how wildly inappropriate and confusing they are. When war breaks out in Korea, every one hopes it will be short. It isn’t, and privations suffered by the Korean people are incredible. Both sisters, living such disparate lives, begin to forget what the other even looks like.

This is a story from a perspective little seen in historical fiction, i.e., told from the perspective of each of the sisters, it doesn’t take long for the reader to begin wondering how each will cope should the parents be able to reunite their family. This is an emotional read without being maudlin or overly dramatic.

The author’s writing is fluid and the story well told. There are parts of the book that are hard to read, but are, nevertheless, fulfilling because the reader is invested in the what happens to the sisters.

The Kinship of Secrets is based on the author's family history. Two sisters are separated. One is taken to the US with her parents and the other is left with family in Korea. The narrative switches back and forth between the sisters and their different upbringing in different cultures. Eventually, the one sister is reunited so her family and years later travels back to Korea with her sister for a visit. The author wrote an engaging story. I hope there might be a third installment, since this book is a sequel to The Calligrapher's Daughter.

This was a different read then I'm used to, and I found out in the end that it's most likely just because of cultural differences that the story seemed so different to me. This book was actually based a lot on the life of the author, and her sister's lives.
The book follows two girls; sisters; one in Korea and one in America. The one sister is dealing with life in America, and dealing with parents who miss the other daughter in Korea. Then you have the other daughter in Korea wondering why she wasn't taken to America too. They both have to deal with completely different lives, until the one in Korea is torn from her life there and brought to her "American family's" home, without even knowing English! It's crazy to realize that the majority of the things in this story happened in real life to these women. Definitely worth a read.

Eugenia Kim in The Kinship of Secrets draws us into the devastation of the Korean War. She portrays the ever timely difficulties of immigration, cultural adjustments, language barriers, and focuses on the separation of families, in particular one family who takes one daughter to America and leaves one daughter behind with family in Korea. Amongst all this are the family secrets, who knows them? Whom do they protect or hurt? After the book the story takes on more meaning when the author reveals that the story mimics her family history. This book offers many opportunities for a great discussion. I will definitely recommend it to my book clubs.

I truly enjoyed reading this beautiful book! The writing was lovely, the characters were endearing and complex, and the details about life in Korea were fascinating. I can't wait to read more from Mrs. Kim.

Thank you, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an advance readers copy!

"These writings expanded Inja's view of the world, even of her own national history in the way that only books can - by seeing through the eyes of the people who lived through those times, and others from foreign lands whose history and culture marked men so differently."

This novel has everything I love about reading about other cultures and time periods, starting during the Korean War, and extending well into the '60's. Najin and Calvin emigrate to the U.S., but only bring one daughter, Miran. Inja is left behind with her grandparents and Uncle's family - with the intention of bringing her over. However, due to war, financial circumstances, and other situations, Inja does not come to the US until she is 15. Adjusting to live in America, adjusting to having a sister, and parents is not an easy feat. Learning about Korea in the 1950's, the politics and culture of the times, as well as the character development of both sisters, makes for a wonderful read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This one never picked up for me. There was a lot of telling and not much showing, and it felt scattered and disjointed with writing that was dry and uninspiring. I wanted to be drawn in and just wasn’t.

A heart wrenching story of two sisters, one raised in an upscale American suburb, the other in Korea, and the family that binds them together. As the girls grow, they continue to grapple with their own identity and where they belong, where to call home. Readers are immersed in war-torn Korea and Korean lifestyle and can practically taste the spicy kimchee all while being privy to deeply held family secrets. Long after the last page was read, I continued to ponder the fallout of the deeply held family secrets. Were they charity secrets? A beautiful story that brings the Korean War to your door. It will stay with you for a long time.

The Kinship of Secrets
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This story is loosely based on the experiences of the author’s family and based on the very helpful author’s note at the end, it accurately represents the story of Korea from the end of WWII to the 1970’s. Two sisters separated nearly from birth are later reunited. Miran grows up in America with her parents, Inja is left behind with an Uncle, Aunt and grandparents. The novel details what led to their separation, the over 10 years living apart, their reunion in America and their return visit to Korea. As an immigrant to America, I could identify with both sisters, their experiences in America and their return to their native Korea. I found the first part of the book a little slow, and the last part rushed. I would have liked to see more balance. Overall, I learned a lot about Korea from reading this book and I am rating it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

There is so much to say about this novel. Drawing on her own family’s history, author Kim has written a totally captivating book that offers strong plotting and even stronger character development while drawing readers into the hardships of life in Korea during the Japanese occupation and the ensuing war and its aftermath Equally compelling are her portrayal of the struggles of members of an immigrant family’s efforts to adapt life in the United States while also providing material goods to the family back home and saving money to bring to the US. the daughter they left behind with her grandparents, uncle, and aunt. Most of all, this is a book about secrets, secrets kept to “suppress hurtful truths to clear the passageway of old burdens,” about change that can happen “with the slip of a word,” and about family and about sisterhood.

The Kinship of Secrets is a beautifully written novel. Very well researched which brought the history of Korea into focus for me. The characters are well developed and the descriptive writing was enjoyable.

3.5 stars - for fans of Pachinko - Two sisters from South Korea end up separated during the Korean War. It was tearjerking to see how the physical separation ended up in an emotional separation even after the family and sisters are reunited.

An utterly engaging story that follows two sisters as they grow up separately due to the Korean War. When Najin and Calvin leave Korea for America, they bring with them the older sister — Miran — but leave baby Inja behind with her uncle and grandparents. What was originally meant to be a 1-2 year absence becomes a 16 year separation as first war and then U.S. immigration policies serve as barriers to reunion. When Inja is finally reunited with her “real” family, she is understandably bereft at being torn from her “real” home and family in Korea.
Well-written and full of fascinating, well-researched details of life in both locations as seen through the eyes of a young girl growing up. The time frame spans 1950 through 1973. Inja’s life in Korea goes through the terribly difficult war years, the armistice, and reconstruction before she leaves for America. Ten years later she returns and sees yet another Korea - one that is modernizing under the leadership of Park Chung-hee. The focus on individuality and independence in America is contrasted with a more communal priority in Korea. For Inja, “The comfort of being home, her Korean home, came from fulfilling the drive to belong. But this drive also heightened the pain of division when a single small thing marked one as different, such as Inja having a mother but not having a mother; for Uncle, having her as a daughter who was not his daughter; for Miran being Korean yet not being Korean.”
The role of secrets and the truth in love and family cohesion is a theme throughout the book. A number of painful secrets are kept in order to avoid bringing others pain. Inja has learned and internalized this behavior and reflects on its value: Secrecy is “a way to live in the accumulation of a difficult family history, a way that was a profound expression of love.” When Inja thinks of the many secrets she keeps, she thinks: “These were all precedents that venerated keeping secrets from her mother as being rituals of love.”
This book is genuine and full of insights. It’s a great opportunity to learn history through the eyes of people who have lived it and culture through the eyes of people who embody it. The story appears to be loosely based on aspects of the author’s family which is probably responsible for the natural and honest feel of the prose. While full of feeling, the book is not overly dramatic which I appreciate. For those who enjoyed Pachinko, I found this to be a complementary narrative that further fleshes out Korean culture and history. A great read.

A beautifully written book that captivated me from the very first page. It will engage all your emotions, veering from heartbreaking to heartwarming and the characters you will have met will remain with you long after you have turned the last page.