A stunning YA debut about a Korean-American girl whose life changes overnight when she meets the family she never knew existed: a teenage cousin who just defected from North Korea—perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Min Jin Lee.

For fifteen-year-old Ellie, family history was always a closed book—until her cousin Yeji arrived from North Korea to open it. For seventeen-year-old Yeji, who defected alone under the cover of darkness, America was a technicolor dream glimpsed through smuggled movies on forbidden screens. Now, she’s trading a life of survival for a crash course in the American teenage experience: high school drama, pool parties, and an overwhelming amount of freedom.

But while Ellie is busy teaching her cousin how to survive social minefields in suburban New Jersey, Yeji is quietly working toward something far more urgent: winning over the grandmother who could help bring the rest of their family out of the dark.

As past and present converge, long-buried family secrets come to light. Together, both girls will learn that home isn’t a place on a map—it’s the people you choose to stand beside and the ones you refuse to leave behind.