Author Description

Can a nation disappear forever?... [In] a tale of collective loss, political revolution and the individual quest for self-determination... Kim brings us the souls caught up on the ground of this larger drama." "Minneapolis Star Tribune" In 1904, facing war and the loss of their nation, more than a thousand Koreans leave their homes for the promise of land in unknown Mexico. After a long sea voyage, these emigrants thieves and royals, priests and soldiers, orphans and entire families discover that they have been sold into indentured servitude. Aboard the ship, the orphan Ijeong fell in love with a nobleman s daughter; separated when the hacendados claim their laborers, he vows to find her. Then, after years of working in the punishing heat of the henequen fields, the Koreans are caught in the midst of a Mexican revolution. A tale of star-crossed love, political turmoil, and the dangers of seeking freedom in a new world, "Black Flower" is an epic story based on a little-known moment in history. Kim is at the leading edge of a new breed of South Korean writers. "Philadelphia City Paper" Spare and beautiful. "Publishers Weekly," starred review "Readers who remember the historical fiction of Thomas B. Costain, Zoe Oldenbourg and Anya Seton will appreciate [Kim s] extensive research and empathic imagination." "Kirkus Reviews" YOUNG-HA KIM s Black Flower won Korea s Dong-in Award. Kim is one of the most talented and prolific Korean writers of his generation, with five novels and three collections of short stories, including his acclaimed debut, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself. Author photograph (c) E. S. Chang Mariner www.marinerbooks.com $14.95 ISBN 978-0-544-10639-0 Fiction 1013/1540831 "