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Inheritance
Not yet published
Expected 7 Apr 26A Korean Canadian woman returns to the prairies, where she revisits her childhood and confronts her haunting guilt.
Anne Kim is a New York lawyer whose success is built on forgetting the past. When her father dies and she returns to Edmonton for the funeral, she is shocked to discover that he was from North Korea and that he left his brother behind.
As Anne reads the undelivered letters her father wrote to his brother about life in Canada, she is transported back to her childhood during the 1980s and 90s. She recalls the struggles her parents faced as immigrants who ran a grocery store in a rural prairie town. Anne and her brother, Charles, felt the weight of their father's expectations: whereas Anne was driven to excel and became an overachiever, Charles rebelled, determined to pursue his own dreams. His rebellion created a rift that culminated in a devastating act, irrevocably shattering the family and leaving Anne overwhelmed by inescapable guilt.
Inheritance explores the immigrant experience, the sacrifices made by both parents and children, and the way trauma is transferred to the next generation. As Anne completes her journey to the past, she emerges to finally define life on her own terms.
Anne Kim is a New York lawyer whose success is built on forgetting the past. When her father dies and she returns to Edmonton for the funeral, she is shocked to discover that he was from North Korea and that he left his brother behind.
As Anne reads the undelivered letters her father wrote to his brother about life in Canada, she is transported back to her childhood during the 1980s and 90s. She recalls the struggles her parents faced as immigrants who ran a grocery store in a rural prairie town. Anne and her brother, Charles, felt the weight of their father's expectations: whereas Anne was driven to excel and became an overachiever, Charles rebelled, determined to pursue his own dreams. His rebellion created a rift that culminated in a devastating act, irrevocably shattering the family and leaving Anne overwhelmed by inescapable guilt.
Inheritance explores the immigrant experience, the sacrifices made by both parents and children, and the way trauma is transferred to the next generation. As Anne completes her journey to the past, she emerges to finally define life on her own terms.
320 pages, Paperback
Expected publication April 7, 2026
1014 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 21, 2025
This is a novel that reads like a memoir. The protagonist is the female child of a couple who escaped wartime Korea to come to Canada. Her older brother carries the traditional burden of eventually leading the family, and he protests against it when his future is shattered by his father's shortsightedness. It is then up to the sister to take up that burden which is not traditionally hers to inherit. In the meantime, the parents struggle to run their own business and survive economically.
It is with some relief that the story continues enough into the future so that we can read how it resolves. The transition to becoming an even somewhat accepted part of society can be easier for children than their parents, but it is never actually easy. Learning more about people from other cultures emigrating to new countries is important for everyone. This story helps to develop the empathy that we all could use more of.
It is with some relief that the story continues enough into the future so that we can read how it resolves. The transition to becoming an even somewhat accepted part of society can be easier for children than their parents, but it is never actually easy. Learning more about people from other cultures emigrating to new countries is important for everyone. This story helps to develop the empathy that we all could use more of.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you to Pegasus Books for the ARC!
Inheritance is a gripping exploration of family, sacrifice, intergenerational trauma, the immigrant experience, and memory. This novel follows Anne Kim is told between two timelines — the present day (2014-2015) in the wake of her father’s passing, and her childhood memories. The dual timeline makes for an engrossing read, beginning with how the family ends up and going back in time to discover the events that led up to them becoming how they were.
Growing up as one of the only Korean American and Asian immigrant families in Edmonton and a rural Canadian prairie town in the 1980s and 90s, Anne wanted nothing more than to fit in with her white peers. Her family navigates racism and discrimination on top of trying to make a living in Canada amidst everything they had to leave behind in Korea.
In 2014, Anne is a successful lawyer in New York, financially supporting her family. She has what looks like the perfect life, but she isn’t fulfilled or happy. After her father’s passing, she must grapple with some questions of the past and how the weight of her father’s expectations led her brother down one path and her down another.
As a character-driven reader, Anne wasn’t the most interesting protagonist to read as she was often very passive in her behavior, and we don’t get to look much into her thoughts and motivations for much of the novel. However, as the child of immigrants, I related to the ways Anne felt pressured to assimilate at the cost of erasing her own family’s culture and heritage, and the immense weight of Confucianism and filial piety. As we get more context into the lives and backstories of Anne’s family and what happened to them during her childhood, the pieces fall into place and the plot unfolds. I couldn’t help but sympathize and root for Anne, who navigates various challenges to the best of her ability and is finally able to start thinking about what she wants for herself as an adult.
Inheritance is a gripping exploration of family, sacrifice, intergenerational trauma, the immigrant experience, and memory. This novel follows Anne Kim is told between two timelines — the present day (2014-2015) in the wake of her father’s passing, and her childhood memories. The dual timeline makes for an engrossing read, beginning with how the family ends up and going back in time to discover the events that led up to them becoming how they were.
Growing up as one of the only Korean American and Asian immigrant families in Edmonton and a rural Canadian prairie town in the 1980s and 90s, Anne wanted nothing more than to fit in with her white peers. Her family navigates racism and discrimination on top of trying to make a living in Canada amidst everything they had to leave behind in Korea.
In 2014, Anne is a successful lawyer in New York, financially supporting her family. She has what looks like the perfect life, but she isn’t fulfilled or happy. After her father’s passing, she must grapple with some questions of the past and how the weight of her father’s expectations led her brother down one path and her down another.
As a character-driven reader, Anne wasn’t the most interesting protagonist to read as she was often very passive in her behavior, and we don’t get to look much into her thoughts and motivations for much of the novel. However, as the child of immigrants, I related to the ways Anne felt pressured to assimilate at the cost of erasing her own family’s culture and heritage, and the immense weight of Confucianism and filial piety. As we get more context into the lives and backstories of Anne’s family and what happened to them during her childhood, the pieces fall into place and the plot unfolds. I couldn’t help but sympathize and root for Anne, who navigates various challenges to the best of her ability and is finally able to start thinking about what she wants for herself as an adult.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews