Minbak

by Ela Lee

*A RADIO 2 WINTER BOOK CLUB PICK*

A sweeping story of three generations of women who cross continents and decades to find truth, forgiveness and compassion.

Incheon, 1985. A nameless baby is born in a minbak in South Korea and vanishes nine days later.

London, 2008. When tragedy strikes, Hana faces ruin. She is forced to move her family – her teenage daughter Ada and ailing mother Youngja – into a single room with her, converting the rest of their home into a minbak, in a painful echo of her past life.

In the confined space of their shared room, there is nowhere to hide. As the past collides with the present, all three women are forced to face not only their family’s dark history, but that of an entire country.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

Kindle Edition

Published March 5, 2026

About the author

Ela Lee's debut novel JADED was published in 2024 by Vintage in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US. It was an Amazon Best Fiction Book of the Year, and Lee was named a Spotify Breakout Author. She has also been selected for Forbes 30 under 30, class of 2025. Her second novel MINBAK publishes in March 2026, and has been selected for BBC Radio 2 Book Club. Her newsletter Elaborate can be found at elalee.substack.com

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this and messaged my mum and my amah straightaway.

What an incredibly powerful book taking on a story which spans decades, pain from a thousand words left unsaid, and the love which ties family and home so inextricably together. I loved Ela Lee's debut novel Jaded and quickly fell in love with Minbak, drawn in by complex relationships between mother and daughter, and a secret so heavy it burdens our characters decades later. I couldn't put this book down and it has lingered on my mind ever since I finished it.

Youngja (grandmother), Hana, (mother) and Ada (daughter) are forced to open their house as a minbak (boarding house) and live in one room due to financial hardship. All have a POV in this story which straddles two time periods South Korea 1985 and London 2008. We see how Hana grew up, her ambition and dreams which had to be put on hold when her family needed her to work at the minbak and all that happens after. The choices which were made as a result of societal pressures and duty to family all lead up to who Hana is today, still harbouring a deep sadness despite her life now in the UK.

I particularly loved how this didn't shy away from exploring complex family relationships and the love that is shown by a mother which doesn't necessarily come with words but in action and small gestures. How people you love can make mistakes while also trying to do what they think is best for you. I felt like I was holding my breath throughout this book until the secrets started to stream out. My heart was in my throat, I couldn't see the pages through tears, and all I wanted to do was hold these women who had been through so much but were still so strong.

Ada is the youngest character in the book and where she could've easily got lost in the story, the author really made her arc work alongside the her mother and her grandmother. I found my heart breaking for her constantly throughout this book. How she wrestles with pleasing her mother, moulding herself into what she thinks her mother needs, feeling close to her culture through her mother and grandmother but also feeling wholly inadequate when faced with all she doesn't know and hasn't experienced. May that be writing in the language or not knowing Korean history that her grandmother has lived through.

'Ada thought of Magna Carta. Of Normans and Plantagenets. York and Tudor. The English Reformation, all six of Henry's downtrodden wives. Suffrage. Austrian archdukes, kaisers and tsars. Hitler, Mussolini, Churchill, Roosevelt.

And then what? A great big blank over the war that raised the grandmother she loved?'

5 stars. Love love love. This story also leaves the door open for you to look into more about the illegal adoption of Korean children to countries around the world, which I had no idea about. The author also cites all her research at the end of the book.

[suzannah ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow, what a gorgeous book. one that has cemented ela lee as one of my new favourite authors. i absolutely loved her debut novel, jaded, and now minbak has blown me away too. just gorgeous writing and really powerful storytelling.

[Terry Rudge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expect this book to win awards during 2026

Minbak by Ela Lee is a quietly powerful novel that unfolds with patience and emotional clarity. At its core, this story is deeply rooted in culture and how it is preserved, strained, and reshaped across generations. I loved that Lee explored everything in depth but showed fragility in doing so.

What surprised me most was the beauty of the love in this book. The love of family through every challenge, showing that love is also complicated, imperfect, and often unspoken. Lee captures how love can exist alongside disappointment and distance, which made the relationships feel especially real

The shifting time periods do take some getting used to. While the transitions eventually add richness and perspective, there were moments early on where I had to pause and reorient myself.

Though there were places where I wished certain emotional threads had been explored a bit more deeply, Minbak remains a thoughtful and beautiful read. I enjoyed this book greatly

[alex alderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

★★★★★
#pr — gifted

𝙩𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢, 𝙗𝙤𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙘𝙪𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙚𝙖. 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.

once again, ela lee brings a CORKER of a novel with 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗮𝗸. effortless storytelling mixed with vibrant, memorable characters, made this book so very good, and one of my top reads of 2025 🏆

after reading and loving 𝗷𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗱 last year (review posted on my grid, ★★★★½) I was super keen to read ela’s next book and had my hopes set high… and boy, this book delivered. grief, loss, heartbreak, displacement, secrets, lies, generational trauma + the things we do for the ones we love. and I’m BARELY scratching the surface here!! it’s unbelievable what ela covers in this book.

𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭: three generations of women cross continents and decades to find truth, forgiveness and compassion. tragedy strikes mother and daughter, hana and ada, while they are living in london, and they are forced to convert their house into a minbak. youngja, hana’s mother, moves in with them and as her dementia settles deeper, the three women must face their family’s dark history and the life-shattering secret of an entire country, long overdue its exposure.

read if you like:

📕 multigenerational fiction novels
📕 truly gorgeous + tender writing that moves you
📕 authors who consistently deliver great new reads

*huge thank you to penguin vintage + ela for sending me an advanced proof, I cannot wait for everyone to read this wonderful novel and fall in love with ada, hana + youngja (coming march 2026!) 🫶

[Sahar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Vintage for the proof of one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I read Jaded when it came out and absolutely adored the writing and how honest and raw Ela’s writing was.

Minbak is a beautifully written, multigenerational story set between London and Korea. The authors ability to take the reader on a journey and weave the past and present together seamlessly blew me away.

Characters are introduced who provide context and I loved that there is no filler, everyone has a purpose. There are no wasted words or chapters. I enjoyed everyone’s perspective- sometimes with a multi perspective story I prefer one characters POV to another’s but that didn’t happen here.

This is written with a lot of heart and it’ll will stay with me for a long time.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is WOW!
This is an emotional story following three generations of Korean women - a story filled with trauma, grief and compassion.
I thought it was beautifully written, moving from the past in 1980s to 2008 and capturing a very complicated time in Korean history. I thought the characters were written well and I liked being able to feel the emotion from each one of them - even those characters who only had a minor role.
I was hooked from the start and had to fight back tears at some points! I'm so glad I had the chance to read it.

Thank you Random House UK, Vintage & NetGalley for the advanced copy!

[Ary アリ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a non-sequential plot across a few decades from the 80s to early 2000s, Minbak follows the story of 3 generations of women, Young-ja, her daughter, Hana and granddaughter, Ada. It tells the story of Hana, growing up during the Korea uprisings, and American influences through its Christian mercenaries, industrialisation and economy in the 80s.

The author, being half Korean uses an abundant number of Korean words, some are already widely known eg. minbak, banchan etc. while some need assistance from Google translate. As someone who has read similar premise of the hardship of early Korea especially during the wars, the themes continued by the author from various other sides like rising from dictator leadership and the resultance of America in shaping Korea we see today.

While I generally do not have an issue with the non-linear storytelling, jumping back and forth across decades, transitions between scenes felt uneven and abrupt for me. I occasionally found myself having to reread the pages a few times for clarity.

Despite it all, Minbak is a perfect pick for the month of #KoreanMarch and #Womenhistorymonth with the themes of women empowerment in a patriarchal society in Korea.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minbak is a beautifully written multi-generational novel which covers many important themes. This is my first novel by Ela Lee but I will certainly read more. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of female generational relationships within a cultural lens.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

[amaareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of advance copy received from Netgalley

4.5 stars for emotionally destroying me by intergenerational trauma and Korean boarding houses

This is the story of three Korean women crammed into one room in 2008 London: teenage Ada, her secretive mother Hana, and ailing grandmother Youngja running a minbak (boarding house) out of their home because tragedy struck and life said "suffer beautifully." But it's also 1985 South Korea, dictatorship era, where teen Hana gets yanked out of school to work at her family's boarding house and her whole future gets swallowed by family obligation, shame, and a nameless baby who vanishes after nine days. The dual timeline weaves between these moments, and it's giving "generational secrets unraveling in the most devastating slow burn possible."

Scenes that absolutely wrecked me:

The 1985 sections where Hana is literally just a bright girl with dreams, stuck running a minbak while South Korea's military chaos hums in the background, watching students and factory workers pass through like glimpses of lives she'll never have? That longing, that quiet suffocation.... it hit WAY too close, and I was reading this at work pretending my eyes weren't doing that stinging thing. I was obsessed with the cramped single-room dynamic in 2008 London where all three women are forced to exist in proximity with nowhere to hide from each other's resentment, grief, and unspoken rage. And Ada, desperately trying to piece together her mother's past like a detective but also just a teen who wants to KNOW her own family, had me in my feelings constantly.

Why it's a 4.5 and not a full 5??

Look, this book is stunning, lyrical, tender, utterly devastating in the best literary fiction way. But it's also SLOW, like "meditative character study" slow, and sometimes I just wanted someone to SAY THE THING instead of circling it for thirty pages in beautiful, painful prose. The pacing occasionally felt like it was prioritizing atmosphere over momentum, and while I respect the craft, there were moments I was like "bestie, I am READY for the revelation, please." Also, this is not a "feel-good" read, it's about misunderstandings, heartbreak, choices that haunt you across decades, and the specific kind of immigrant grief that sits in your chest forever, so if you're expecting comfort, maybe grab tissues and emotional support instead.

Ultimately, this is a masterclass in empathy, a love letter to the Korean women erased from history books, and an achingly real portrait of mothers and daughters failing and loving each other in equal measure. I closed it feeling hollowed out but also weirdly grateful, like I'd been trusted with something precious and painful, which is exactly what intergenerational storytelling should feel like. (And also like I needed to go home and call my mum immediately.)

[Books Before Bs · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Minbak’ by Ela Lee is a gem of a novel. Elegant, deeply moving, and quietly powerful. I could spend days discussing it, dedicate tomes to enthusing over its subtle brilliance, but all I really need to say is this: Read it!

The plot is simple. In Incheon, South Korea, in the 1980s, after falling on hard times, a family is forced to turn their home into a minbak—a guesthouse. Twenty years later, following a tragedy, the daughter of that family finds herself recreating the arrangement in London, this time with her teenage daughter and her ageing mother, who is living with Alzheimer’s. With three generations of women sharing one room, the past echoes through the present, leading to secrets being revealed and old wounds confronted. There are no shocks or big twists. Even the most dramatic moments retain a quiet subtlety. The novel’s beauty lies in its relationships, its characters’ lived experiences, and its thoughtful exploration of love, grief, memory, and identity.

Lee’s prose is simple yet vivid. A line such as “He was a smile surrounded by a person” perfectly captures her precision and economy. The characters are beautifully realised, with each feeling real and distinct, while the shifts across voices and time unfold with impressive fluidity. Equally notable is how the novel engages with numerous themes without ever feeling crowded or imbalanced. Coming-of-age narratives, the immigrant experience, kindnesses wrapped in betrayals, and the complexity of mother-daughter relationships—all are given their due weight; all weave together seamlessly.

‘Minbak’ really is a special book—one that lingers long after the final page, and one I am certain to return to. For readers drawn to Korean literature and multi-generational narratives—particularly those centred on mothers and daughters—it is a must-read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Ela Lee and Harvill for the ARC.

⚠️ Death of parent, death of a child, grief, racism, disordered eating

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst not as accusatory and powerfully raw as Lee’s debut, this is a multigenerational story that is internally emotional and destabilising.

1985, Incheon, Hana, a young girl is forced to abandon her education to work in her family’s minbak (a guesthouse in a private home) during a turbulent time in South Korea’s society.
2008, London: now a mother, Hana is forced to move her teenage daughter, Ada, and her own forgetting mother, into a single room, transforming their home into a minbak to survive.

Simply put, this is an exploration on memory, reflection, and quiet, unshared suffering.

A stolen schoolgirl, replaced by a working girl, replaced by a wife. A stolen schoolgirl, replaced by a working girl, replaced by a wife.

Hana spends her life trying to achieve something more feeling cheated for reasons explored in the heartbreaking novel that turns a naive, hopeful girl into a hardened, fragile woman (oxymoronic, I know).

Ada, a second generation immigrant, feeling half of a person. Desperate to fit in, desperate to please her mother and care for her grandmother, desperate for external affirmation.

The writing is soft and beautiful and compulsively readable.

I wish this had delved more into the impact of society on each women. This tale is very internal which means we get raw inner reflections, but we miss bigger ripples.

Similarly, the characters are trapped in a similar, repetitive thought cycle slowing down momentum and emotional resonance.
I kept waiting for a confrontation or climax.

If you go in expecting a slow, generational character study akin to a more internal Pachinko; you will be satisfied.

Physical arc gifted by Vintage, Penguin Books.

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[Dima · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book follows three generations of South Korean women, moving between 1985 Incheon and 2008 London. The central character is Hana, Youngja’s daughter and Ada’s mother. In 2008 she lives a diminished, half-life, and a personal tragedy forces long-buried wounds to reopen and, slowly, begin to heal. Ada, fifteen, is caught between her South Korean heritage—about which she has been told very little—and her contemporary life in London as the child of a mixed family. Youngja, in 2008, is slowly losing her memories, yet must confront a difficult decision she made for her daughter in 1985, a choice that has continued to haunt her even as her faculties fade.

The book approaches a national tragedy through an intimate, personal lens. It is difficult to discuss this without giving away too much, but I learned a great deal and was struck by the scale and recency of the events it depicts.

Overall, I liked the book. It is well written, with vivid characters and an engaging plot that held my interest even if it never truly gripped me. Still, something felt missing. The story, serving as a vessel for a broader agenda, sometimes felt clinically executed, with insufficient depth given to the overarching narrative. It also lacked the emotional urgency and complexity I expected; the emotions were described clearly, yet I rarely felt them. Compared with a work like Pachinko, this story feels comparatively muted.

I recommend it to readers interested in modern South Korean history, especially the experiences of South Korean women in the latter half of the twentieth century. Without its illuminating historical focus, I might have suggested skipping it. 3.5* rounded up.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Lisa Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an emotional and powerful read. Exposing family secrets and those of an entire nation.

Set in Korea and London across three generations it explores the relationships of mother daughter and granddaughter with three POVs. Delving into the women’s histories, secrets, silence, and the complicated bonds between mothers and daughters.

The story of a baby dropped off at an orphanage who then disappears in 1985, is heartbreaking and gradually unfurls throughout the book. Then there’s the other hardships the women deal with, moving to London and being forced to live together in one cramped room after tragedy upends their lives as they must use their home as a Minbak (Korean for guesthouse) to make ends meet.

The writing is restrained but deeply emotional, revealing trauma in fragments rather than huge hits. The novel explores how pain is passed down, how secrets calcify into family trauma, and how cultural and national history shape personal suffering. What emerges is a portrait of women trying, in imperfect ways, to protect one another while carrying wounds they don’t know how to reconcile.

Minbāk is tender, bleak, and ultimately compassionate, a moving story of forgiveness, survival, and the fragile possibility of breaking generational cycles.

[Amanda Fiorani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning! It might just be one of my new all-time favourite books.

What, or who, is home to you?

Minbak is centred around three women, three generations of a family — Youngja, Hana, and Ada. The story is told through their perspectives and those of other women across different timelines, all anchored in minbaks, a sort of boarding house. It spans different decades and countries, detailing this family's history and how these women came to be who they are today, their regrets, guilt, and love.

I know this book is going to stay with me for a long time. It is unflinchingly raw, and these women feel so real that I just want to give them a hug. It's sad how sometimes we are shouldering such heavy things by ourselves while in a room full of people, even family. It takes a tremendous amount of trust and forgiveness to accept people as they are, and these women have a great deal to work through. This book reminded me to take a closer look at my own mother and grandmother as women who have also been doing their best to deal with what life throws at them.

If you are a fan of family sagas and Pachinko like I am, then you're going to love Minbak. Ela Lee continues to stun.

Huge thanks to Harvill for the eARC and proof!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, and it was very accomplished. It’s an intergenerational historical fiction, switching perspectives between grandmother/mother/teenage daughter (plus other characters) and how the events and choices made in Korea in the 80s continue to have ramifications down the generations. It’s similar to other novels I have read like Pachinko and How We Disappeared, so will appeal to readers who enjoyed those. But it is in no way a rerun of those novels and is very fresh and unique. It has a more modern historical focus too - where most novels like this seem to begin in the WW2/Japanese occupation period, this focuses primarily on international adoption of Korean babies in the 80s.

Each chapter shifts perspectives to a different character, and jumps between time periods. It could easily have become confusing but is done very artfully so the reader doesn’t get lost.

I was glad it had an ending that wasn’t ambiguous but also didn’t give an easy or unrealistic resolution.

I’d recommend this!

[Deja · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You could tell the difference between a woman who expected pain in the ordinary course, and a child who had yet to discover this truth. For Hana, grief was, until now, an exotic, faraway thing. For Youngja, grief was an insistent harassment. To Hana, it was a small room without windows or doors. To Youngja, it was the seven seas, the sun and all of the moons. For Hana, grief clotted in giant globules, whereas it flowed through Youngja until she wondered if she was made of it. Grief ended Hana’s life as she knew it, but Youngja knew all too well that it was only the beginning.”

Minbak was everything I hoped for in a multigenerational novel. What moved me most was how deeply it explores the bonds between mothers and daughters, and the choices they make for the ones they love, or sometimes feel forced to make. Each character expressed love in their own way, and the story shows how love can exist alongside disappointment and pain.

I loved the historical context of South Korea, which was perfectly balanced with the story and its emotional focus.

I read the final pages holding my breath. It was truly special.

[Bao Bao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set between South Korea and Richmond, London from the years of 1985 to 2008. We hear the lives of when Hana Park was 15 years old who met a young American during the Gwangju Uprising of 1985... Youngja (Hana's mother) had to make difficult decisions... and Ada (Hana's daughter) discovers the truth of her mother and grandmother...

Youngja, Hana, and Ada (grand-daughter) end up living in one room after Hana's husband dies. They are forced to sell most of their belongings as Hana's husband was in debt due to his failing business, and soon Hana turns her home into a minnak (like an Airbnb), Ada looks after her grandmother until she goes to a new school. What does Ada find, and will Hana forgive her mother?

When people say they'll be jealous of others reading this book for the first time, that's how I feel about this book. Such a poetic like book. Hoping there will be a part two on finding Hana's secret... Well, finger's crossed!

For those who like Han Kang's books, Mater-2-10 by Hwang Sok-yang and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage | Harvill for this ARC!!

[SarahRobins_reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ I went into Minbák with absolutely no idea what it was about, and I’m so glad I did. This novel unfolds through multiple points of view, following three Korean women—grandmother, mother, and daughter—as it weaves together their present-day lives with the journeys that shaped them.

What really stood out to me was how original and quietly powerful the storytelling felt. Through these women’s experiences, the book explores family, identity, displacement, and survival, while offering a deeply engaging look into Korean culture across generations. I learned so much without it ever feeling like a history lesson—it all came naturally through the characters’ lives and choices.

The story is undeniably sad at times, but in a way that feels honest rather than heavy-handed. It lingered with me long after I finished, and I found myself wanting more—more time with these women, more of their histories, more of their futures. A thoughtful, moving, and beautifully told novel that exceeded my expectations.

[Jamad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minbak is a thoughtful, quietly absorbing novel about mothers and daughters, secrets, and the long reach of the past. Moving between South Korea and London, Ela Lee follows three generations of women whose lives are more entangled than they care to admit.

The writing is calm and assured, particularly strong on family dynamics and the things people choose not to say. I really appreciated the historical context, which was excellent — I didn’t know much about South Korea, and it was woven in clearly without feeling heavy-handed. The idea of the minbak, a guesthouse that blurs the line between private and public life, works well as a mirror for the emotional compromises the characters make.

It’s a novel that trusts the reader and doesn’t rush its revelations. Measured, emotionally intelligent, and quietly affecting. Four stars.

[Nana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of sophomores cannot surpass their debuts, but in this case, it did. What a gem of a book. Ela Lee is a gifted writer who, with this novel, has shown remarkable growth in her writing.

In 1980s Incheon, South Korea, Youngja is forced to turn her family home into a guest house—a minbak—after her family falls on hard times. This turn of events ends the education of her daughter, Hana. A chance encounter between Hana and a young American missionary leads to a chain of events that changes the course of her life.

Twenty years later in London, Hana is again forced to turn her home into a minbak when a tragic event upends her and her daughter Ada’s life. Youngja, suffering from Alzheimer’s, has to move in with them, sleeping in one room. Secrets are revealed as the book explores themes of love, memory, identity, and grief.

What I think I loved most about this book was her writing style. I felt it was just beautiful, and I loved the way her sentences were constructed. She at one point describes a person as “he was a person surrounded by a smile,” and there were so many more lines like this.

The ending, though, I felt was slightly rushed, and the insertion of different POVs from external characters was a little jarring for me. But the book needed it to tie up loose ends. I just wasn’t a fan of how it was done. That slight twist at the end, which gave hope, made the book satisfying enough for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it.

[Farah G · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Hana's husband Tim unexpectedly passes, leaving her with the responsibility of looking after her teenage daughter and elderly mother, she is forced to take an unusual step by opening up her home to temporary lodgers. In an echo of the past, Hana discovers that her mother also ran a lodging house of this kind - known as a minbak - when they lived in South Korea.

Shifting between Incheon, South Korea in the 90s and London in 2008, this is a compelling intergenerational story of family, history, culture, and relationships, as well as the impacts of generational trauma. Well worth checking out it gets 3.5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Jen Burrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Minbak is a quietly devastating novel about three generations of Korean women whose present is, in different ways, haunted by the past. It's a story of memory, loss and the flawed choices people make out of love.

It's an emotional read without melodrama: just the heartbreak of old wounds reopening. The characters all feel fully human, at times flawed and frustrating, (mis)shaped by the decisions they've made. Lee writes with compassion for each of her narrators, and there is a sense that, although the past may be painful, it's possible to inherit strength as well as sorrow.

Beautiful and bittersweet, I'm sure we'll be seeing Minbak all over shelves this Spring.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Jaded by Ela Lee and this new book Minbak is even better. It is so emotional and I needed a while to collect my thoughts after finishing it. I will definitely be keeping an eye for any future releases by her.

A Minbak is a Korean boarding house where the family would live closely together and rent the other rooms out and we follow three generations of women that have run these to make ends meet.

The exploration of relationships across cultures and time is beautiful, as well as shining a light on a lot of sad history that was unknown to me. Lee captures relationships and the reasons we might make the choices we do so well.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy.

[Ella Hamilton Savory · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s something about multi-generational stories that truly just does it for me. This novel was wonderful in every way and more, Ela Lee is an exceptional storyteller.

The time jumping and alternating character focus gave the narrative such depth and perspective, I was completely engulfed reading this. Lee tells a story with so many levels to it, exploring love and family, tradition and resentment, and gives each of the themes equal time and attention in a way that helps you see all sides of each character’s story - whether you want to accept them or not…

I loved this and can’t wait for everybody else to love it too.

If you had your world changed by Pachinko, you need to read Minbak!

[Farzana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written, but sad, story spanning three generations of women.
Each of the primary characters carries her own burdens, compelling her to navigate and survive. While the male characters play a significant role in the unfolding events, I appreciate that they were not given a 'perspective' within the book—the reference to their actions was sufficient.
The use of the Korean language adds an additional layer of authenticity.
It is a fitting read that highlights the resilience of women, perfectly timed for International Women's Day 2026.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the advance copy.

[Ink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Minbak by Ela Lee is moving, poignant and resonant. The story follows three generations of Korean women as they traverse the challenges of political upheaval in 1980s Korea, to the isolation and tragedy in London years later, when their life comes full circle. A poignant narrative of the effect of gllobal issues on the individual at a time when it could not be more important. Certainly a book for our time and all time

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House UK, Vintage | Harvill and the author Ela Lee for this stunning ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

[mila_readss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be ready to shed some tears 🤧

A grandmother. A mother. A daughter. Initially apart, but ultimately united as one.

This is a profound exploration of grief through the eyes of three generations. Each carries guilt for years, believing they must be strong, responsible, and unyielding over time. It was an incredibly touching narrative. I felt a strong emotional connection with the characters and gained a deep understanding of their experiences.

In the end, this is a tale of unconditional love. A mother will always strive to do what is best for her daughter...

4.25 ⭐

[belly · Rating 5 out of 5]

netgalley earc
this book was heartbreaking but every page kept me engaged. I felt like I was being taught Korean history through this family. every new character that was introduced, outside of the three women of this family, was full of new information for this story and was not confusing to follow just succinct and interesting. I'm off to do some research on how this mess is being addressed today

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story a lot! The author took us to Korea during a time in history that I have not read a lot about and introduced us to characters that I wont forget. This sweeping tale was entertaining and heart warming. I cant wait for more people to read this book.

[Sarah Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book which tells the story of three generations of Korean women from the 1980s to the 2000s from their early life in Korea to modern day London. The novel touches on subjects such as adoption.,The difficulties of living in a foreign country and generational trauma. It particularly highlights the repeated of things that happen within families in the early stages of the story we hear of a poor Korean family who have to change their accommodation into a boarding house in order to get by in later life the same thing happens in modern day Britain.
The author has a beautiful way of writing which is poetic on occasions from the very start. I can feel that this is a book that I’m going to be able to savour
The author is good at describing individual characteristics of a person and her characters feel utterly three-dimensional and real.
This is a subtle quiet book with the story carefully described it’s compelling and devastating at the same time
I know that it has been chosen as the radio to book club book and therefore I’m sure it will reach a wider audience who will enjoy it
I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK in return for an honest review. The book. is published on the UK on the 15th of March 2026 by Random House UK vintage.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads, StoryGraph, and my book blog bionicSarahS books.wordpress.com. After publication it will also appear on Amazon and Waterstones.