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The Young Will Remember
A sweeping novel about a correspondent trapped behind enemy lines during the Korean War, and the women who help her find her way home, from the national bestselling author of Daughters of Shandong
When I found the courage to lift my head, I expected to stare down the barrel of a gun, but instead there was a woman in front of me, the back of her white skirt embroidered with columns of yellow chrysanthemums.
1950. It’s the coldest winter in decades, and twenty-eight-year-old Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight to cover a battle in the mountains of North Korea when her plane is shot down.
As she emerges from the fallen aircraft onto an icy field surrounded by the enemy, Ellie is sure it’s the end, certain she’ll never make it home to her parents...until a woman pushes her way through the crowd and claims Ellie as the lost daughter that she’s been searching for since the last war ended. Never mind that Ellie doesn’t speak a word of Korean.
Ellie is taken in by her rescuer—a woman who calls herself “Emma”—and the Paks, a pastor’s family. She knows she can’t stay and yet there’s no way she’ll survive on her own.
As the war intensifies, the sky alighting with bombs overhead, Ellie convinces Emma and the Paks to travel south towards an elusive promise of safety, and where Ellie insists they are more likely to find Emma’s real daughter, stuck on the other side of the frontlines.
Emma's decision to claim Ellie, and Ellie’s choice to take her hand will connect their lives forever.
Moving and triumphant, The Young Will Remember sheds light on a “Forgotten War,” the resilience of love within our darkest histories, and the indefatigable determination of mothers to protect their children.
When I found the courage to lift my head, I expected to stare down the barrel of a gun, but instead there was a woman in front of me, the back of her white skirt embroidered with columns of yellow chrysanthemums.
1950. It’s the coldest winter in decades, and twenty-eight-year-old Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight to cover a battle in the mountains of North Korea when her plane is shot down.
As she emerges from the fallen aircraft onto an icy field surrounded by the enemy, Ellie is sure it’s the end, certain she’ll never make it home to her parents...until a woman pushes her way through the crowd and claims Ellie as the lost daughter that she’s been searching for since the last war ended. Never mind that Ellie doesn’t speak a word of Korean.
Ellie is taken in by her rescuer—a woman who calls herself “Emma”—and the Paks, a pastor’s family. She knows she can’t stay and yet there’s no way she’ll survive on her own.
As the war intensifies, the sky alighting with bombs overhead, Ellie convinces Emma and the Paks to travel south towards an elusive promise of safety, and where Ellie insists they are more likely to find Emma’s real daughter, stuck on the other side of the frontlines.
Emma's decision to claim Ellie, and Ellie’s choice to take her hand will connect their lives forever.
Moving and triumphant, The Young Will Remember sheds light on a “Forgotten War,” the resilience of love within our darkest histories, and the indefatigable determination of mothers to protect their children.
Audible Audio
First published May 5, 2026
About the author
Eve J. Chung
2 books548 followersEve J. Chung is the nationally bestselling and award-winning author of DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG and THE YOUNG WILL REMEMBER. She is also a Taiwanese American lawyer and women's human rights specialist. Her writing is inspired by social justice movements, and the continued struggle for equality and fundamental freedoms worldwide. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two children, and two dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Fun Fact: My grandfather lost his toes in Korea. He fought in The Korean War, and the story goes that as he was a very tall man, his feet stuck out of the tent when he was sleeping, causing frostbite to set in.
Eve Chung is back with her sophomore novel, The Young Will Remember. She is also author of the stunning novel, Daughters of Shandong.
The Young Will Remember is a historical fiction novel set in The Korean War. Eleanor Chang “Ellie” is an American war correspondent who unexpectedly finds herself in enemy territory. How will she ever reach home again?
The story focuses on Ellie’s quest for survival and the people who help her along the way.
The Young Will Remember is captivating and compelling, always a joy to read, a book that will keep readers guessing until the last minute.
*Thanks, Netgalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – Pre-ordered on Amazon for $31.80
Electronic Text - Free/nada/zilch/free gift from publisher as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy)
Connect With Me!
Instagram/Threads: @lisa_of_troy
Blog: lisaoftroy.com
Eve Chung is back with her sophomore novel, The Young Will Remember. She is also author of the stunning novel, Daughters of Shandong.
The Young Will Remember is a historical fiction novel set in The Korean War. Eleanor Chang “Ellie” is an American war correspondent who unexpectedly finds herself in enemy territory. How will she ever reach home again?
The story focuses on Ellie’s quest for survival and the people who help her along the way.
The Young Will Remember is captivating and compelling, always a joy to read, a book that will keep readers guessing until the last minute.
*Thanks, Netgalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – Pre-ordered on Amazon for $31.80
Electronic Text - Free/nada/zilch/free gift from publisher as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy)
Connect With Me!
Instagram/Threads: @lisa_of_troy
Blog: lisaoftroy.com
May 12, 2026
4.5 stars
Ever since I finished reading Taiwanese American author Eve J. Chung’s stunning and immersive debut novel Daughters of Shandong back in 2023, I have been eagerly anticipating her next book, so I of course was ecstatic to find out that her sophomore novel, The Young Will Remember , would be published this year. Whereas Chung’s debut drew on her own family history – specifically, the story of her maternal grandmother and her experiences during the Chinese civil war -- this second novel is inspired by her half-Korean husband’s family history and shed lights on another lesser-known piece of 20th century history: the Korean War, which was also known as the “Forgotten War.” At the same time, Chung also incorporates her own experiences as a women’s human rights lawyer as well as her work with victims of sexual violence to bring some much-needed attention to the crime of military sexual slavery and the history of “comfort women” during World War II and the wars that followed it.
Chung weaves these threads together through the story of Eleanor (Ellie) Chang, a Chinese American journalist who becomes trapped behind enemy lines when the plane she is riding in goes down in the mountains of North Korea at the height of the Korean War. Upon witnessing her comrades being executed in cold blood, Ellie believes she is about to meet the same fate – that is, until a woman she later comes to know as “Emma” claims Ellie as her long-lost daughter Song Yun-Hee, whom Emma had been searching for ever since she was kidnapped by Japanese occupation forces during the previous war. Even though Ellie is obviously not her daughter, Emma takes her into the home where she lives with her long-time friends, the Pak family – Pastor Pak, his wife Imo, and their son Jae-Min – and treats her as part of the family. Gradually, Ellie forges a close connection with Emma and Imo – a relationship that only grows stronger as the war intensifies and they are eventually forced to escape to safety in the south. Throughout their harrowing escape, even as they bear witness to the chaos and destruction of bombs raining down on them almost daily, Emma never stops searching for her daughter and at some point, Ellie also takes up the search for Yun-Hee as her own personal mission. While the search for Yun-Hee is a thread woven throughout the narrative, the heart and soul of the story centers around the bond that Ellie and Emma form as they endure the difficulties of life amidst the upheaval of war.
Once again, Chung delivers a moving story about ordinary women who, bound together by the will to survive the extraordinary hardship and devastating heartbreak that they face, fight against all odds to rise resiliently above the forces that threaten them. In situating her characters within the historical context of the impact that World War II had on Korea (which she discusses in her Author’s Note), Chung succeeds in doing what well-researched and well-written historical fiction does best: shed much-needed light on little known aspects of history that can also serve as relevant teaching moments when circumstances require it. In this light, and given its themes, the title of the novel – The Young Will Remember – is indeed apt.
While I still prefer Chung’s debut novel Daughters of Shandong (which was a 5-star read for me), this sophomore effort is a worthwhile read and definitely highly recommended – though with the caveat that this won’t be an easy read by any means, given its depiction of war and its atrocities. Even so, it is still time well-spent.
Received ARC from Berkley via NetGalley.
Ever since I finished reading Taiwanese American author Eve J. Chung’s stunning and immersive debut novel Daughters of Shandong back in 2023, I have been eagerly anticipating her next book, so I of course was ecstatic to find out that her sophomore novel, The Young Will Remember , would be published this year. Whereas Chung’s debut drew on her own family history – specifically, the story of her maternal grandmother and her experiences during the Chinese civil war -- this second novel is inspired by her half-Korean husband’s family history and shed lights on another lesser-known piece of 20th century history: the Korean War, which was also known as the “Forgotten War.” At the same time, Chung also incorporates her own experiences as a women’s human rights lawyer as well as her work with victims of sexual violence to bring some much-needed attention to the crime of military sexual slavery and the history of “comfort women” during World War II and the wars that followed it.
Chung weaves these threads together through the story of Eleanor (Ellie) Chang, a Chinese American journalist who becomes trapped behind enemy lines when the plane she is riding in goes down in the mountains of North Korea at the height of the Korean War. Upon witnessing her comrades being executed in cold blood, Ellie believes she is about to meet the same fate – that is, until a woman she later comes to know as “Emma” claims Ellie as her long-lost daughter Song Yun-Hee, whom Emma had been searching for ever since she was kidnapped by Japanese occupation forces during the previous war. Even though Ellie is obviously not her daughter, Emma takes her into the home where she lives with her long-time friends, the Pak family – Pastor Pak, his wife Imo, and their son Jae-Min – and treats her as part of the family. Gradually, Ellie forges a close connection with Emma and Imo – a relationship that only grows stronger as the war intensifies and they are eventually forced to escape to safety in the south. Throughout their harrowing escape, even as they bear witness to the chaos and destruction of bombs raining down on them almost daily, Emma never stops searching for her daughter and at some point, Ellie also takes up the search for Yun-Hee as her own personal mission. While the search for Yun-Hee is a thread woven throughout the narrative, the heart and soul of the story centers around the bond that Ellie and Emma form as they endure the difficulties of life amidst the upheaval of war.
Once again, Chung delivers a moving story about ordinary women who, bound together by the will to survive the extraordinary hardship and devastating heartbreak that they face, fight against all odds to rise resiliently above the forces that threaten them. In situating her characters within the historical context of the impact that World War II had on Korea (which she discusses in her Author’s Note), Chung succeeds in doing what well-researched and well-written historical fiction does best: shed much-needed light on little known aspects of history that can also serve as relevant teaching moments when circumstances require it. In this light, and given its themes, the title of the novel – The Young Will Remember – is indeed apt.
While I still prefer Chung’s debut novel Daughters of Shandong (which was a 5-star read for me), this sophomore effort is a worthwhile read and definitely highly recommended – though with the caveat that this won’t be an easy read by any means, given its depiction of war and its atrocities. Even so, it is still time well-spent.
Received ARC from Berkley via NetGalley.
Want to Read
August 30, 2025anything this author writes, i will read. this book is probably gonna break my heart and i’m ready for it
December 17, 2025
3.5 stars
Unfortunately, this story relied so heavily on showing rather than telling that it became difficult to read. Despite being set in the 1950s during the turbulent Korean, Chinese, and Japanese war, I never felt fully immersed in the time period. I also agreed with another reviewer who mentioned the forced dialogue, as it often pulled me out of the story and made it harder to stay engaged. By the end, I found myself skimming just to finish.
That said, none of this takes away from the importance of the subject matter. The history of comfort women, essentially sex slaves used by armies worldwide, is an incredibly important and necessary story to tell.
Unfortunately, this story relied so heavily on showing rather than telling that it became difficult to read. Despite being set in the 1950s during the turbulent Korean, Chinese, and Japanese war, I never felt fully immersed in the time period. I also agreed with another reviewer who mentioned the forced dialogue, as it often pulled me out of the story and made it harder to stay engaged. By the end, I found myself skimming just to finish.
That said, none of this takes away from the importance of the subject matter. The history of comfort women, essentially sex slaves used by armies worldwide, is an incredibly important and necessary story to tell.
May 8, 2026
This story has a few layers, but I mainly want to focus on one. Having just read “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee for a book club, my interest has been piqued, and I’ve been looking for books that relate the history of Korea, Japan and China.
“Pachinko” gutted me, really. There’s a brief mention in there that a couple of young women the main character knows went over to China with the promise of good jobs. Then we find out that often what that actually meant was the girls were forced into sexual slavery for the soldiers stationed there. Known as “comfort women”, they did not live long lives, as you may imagine, and conditions were horrific.
Enter “Emma”, who saves main character (Ellie) when the latter’s plane is shot down in North Korea. As the story unfolds, we realize pretty early on that Emma’s daughter was conscripted into the army AT AGE FOURTEEN, since Emma didn’t have a son. Emma is told that her daughter will work for a factory, but…did she actually go to a factory?
It makes me (quite rationally) angry that these girls and women were lied to and/or essentially kidnapped from the only homes they had ever known, only to be violently raped over and over again until they had outlived their usefulness. A lot of the girls had probably never even had sex beforehand!! The soldiers most likely considered them the same as animals.
It’s a brutal, brutal history, and their stories deserve to be told.
There’s more to the novel, of course, but I am so incensed about the comfort women that I just had to write my feelings down.
I learned a ton about Korea from reading this, and Ellie’s journey is certainly eye-opening. I highly, highly recommend this book. I saw another reviewer suggest that this would be a great book club read, and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s not an easy read, but it’s an important one.
My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
4.5 stars, rounded up.
“Pachinko” gutted me, really. There’s a brief mention in there that a couple of young women the main character knows went over to China with the promise of good jobs. Then we find out that often what that actually meant was the girls were forced into sexual slavery for the soldiers stationed there. Known as “comfort women”, they did not live long lives, as you may imagine, and conditions were horrific.
Enter “Emma”, who saves main character (Ellie) when the latter’s plane is shot down in North Korea. As the story unfolds, we realize pretty early on that Emma’s daughter was conscripted into the army AT AGE FOURTEEN, since Emma didn’t have a son. Emma is told that her daughter will work for a factory, but…did she actually go to a factory?
It makes me (quite rationally) angry that these girls and women were lied to and/or essentially kidnapped from the only homes they had ever known, only to be violently raped over and over again until they had outlived their usefulness. A lot of the girls had probably never even had sex beforehand!! The soldiers most likely considered them the same as animals.
It’s a brutal, brutal history, and their stories deserve to be told.
There’s more to the novel, of course, but I am so incensed about the comfort women that I just had to write my feelings down.
I learned a ton about Korea from reading this, and Ellie’s journey is certainly eye-opening. I highly, highly recommend this book. I saw another reviewer suggest that this would be a great book club read, and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s not an easy read, but it’s an important one.
My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
4.5 stars, rounded up.
November 26, 2025
If you are tired of reading the same WWII historical fiction about Europe and the Holocaust but still want to get lost in a story from the past, READ THIS. Eve Chung excels at bringing characters to life. The Young Will Remember was hard to put down and I devoured it. Fans of historical fiction will love this book that focuses on regular, everyday people during war, specifically women. It asks the question, who pays the true price of war?
This book looks at the Korean War and the main character is an American journalist whose plane goes down in North Korea in enemy territory. She barely escapes with her life when a local woman takes her to her village. All she can think about is how to get back to her work and the American soldiers/lines.
The woman that saves her is searching for her daughter who was conscripted by the Japanese when she was 14 during WWII. Many girls were taken for comfort stations and factory work and she is holding out hope that she survived the war. Chung addresses head on the atrocities of war and the problematic narrative surrounding "comfort stations." Despite these heavy topics, I found that there was a good balance of information without being overly descriptive/traumatic surrounding these topics. Another fantastic book I haven't stopped thinking about since I finished it. This would make a great bookclub book!
Thank you to netgalley for an ARC to enjoy.
This book looks at the Korean War and the main character is an American journalist whose plane goes down in North Korea in enemy territory. She barely escapes with her life when a local woman takes her to her village. All she can think about is how to get back to her work and the American soldiers/lines.
The woman that saves her is searching for her daughter who was conscripted by the Japanese when she was 14 during WWII. Many girls were taken for comfort stations and factory work and she is holding out hope that she survived the war. Chung addresses head on the atrocities of war and the problematic narrative surrounding "comfort stations." Despite these heavy topics, I found that there was a good balance of information without being overly descriptive/traumatic surrounding these topics. Another fantastic book I haven't stopped thinking about since I finished it. This would make a great bookclub book!
Thank you to netgalley for an ARC to enjoy.
May 5, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an eARC.
This was a brilliantly written book. Most of my historical fiction reads have been based on WWII. This is my first book about the Korean war. I went in knowing almost nothing and now I have a general idea about it. I really appreciated the author's note about how it related to her family and explanations of some of her sources and motivations. All the characters were fleshed out very well with clear backstories and motivations for the way they behaved. The entire thing was so sad, I felt so bad for all of them, all the pain they had to go through. It was so heartbreaking to see Emma search for Yun-Hee for so long. The plotline about "comfort women" was also well done, especially the arc it took during the modern day epilogue. The pacing was a little slow in the middle but the final parts really made up for it. The pace did work well for the book though, it made me slow down and take in the setting more deeply. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for a book set during the Korean war.
This was a brilliantly written book. Most of my historical fiction reads have been based on WWII. This is my first book about the Korean war. I went in knowing almost nothing and now I have a general idea about it. I really appreciated the author's note about how it related to her family and explanations of some of her sources and motivations. All the characters were fleshed out very well with clear backstories and motivations for the way they behaved. The entire thing was so sad, I felt so bad for all of them, all the pain they had to go through. It was so heartbreaking to see Emma search for Yun-Hee for so long. The plotline about "comfort women" was also well done, especially the arc it took during the modern day epilogue. The pacing was a little slow in the middle but the final parts really made up for it. The pace did work well for the book though, it made me slow down and take in the setting more deeply. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for a book set during the Korean war.
May 31, 2026
4.5 stars. Ellie Chang is a young Chinese American journalist covering the Korean War when her plane is shot down behind enemy lines with no clear way home. As she fights to survive, she is helped by women who are also carrying their own impossible choices. There’s Emma, still searching for her missing daughter, and the Pak family who risk everything to protect Ellie as the danger around them worsens. What makes this story so moving is in the way it shows war through the eyes of women trying to endure, protect one another, and hold onto hope. What a powerful, heartfelt novel about courage, sacrifice, and the women history often forgets. Excellent - highly recommend! Read for AAPI Heritage Month. Pub. 5/5/26
June 2, 2026
Really loved the premise of an American Chinese journalist being sent to report on the Korean War in the 1950s only to get shot down and stuck in a country she doesn't speak the language or have any ties to. This had a lot of heart, I enjoyed the female friendships but I found it overly long and struggled to stay interested. Ultimately it wasn't a book for me but I really appreciated the story. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest reveiw.
Read
April 18, 2026When a Taiwanese American War Journalist is shot down over enemy territory, will she ever get back home? 🛬💥 Eve J Chung tackles a time, setting, and perspective in history with her fictional account that is rarely told. 1950 Korea during the war from a woman journalist learning of the ravages of war on the vulnerable caught in the crossfire.
My full review will post on my Instagram page, @sophiarose1816
My full review will post on my Instagram page, @sophiarose1816
May 5, 2026
The same gut-punch as The Nightingale — only a different war, a different set of women.
The Vibe: Sweeping, Heartbreaking, Immersive
I feared for the main character at the same time I was in awe of her tenacity. Her resilience, her drive to get the story, and her instinct for survival kept me in knots. The bond she struck with two other women felt real — their harrowing experiences weren't written for drama but as the honest realities of war.
What I Loved:
• Poignant and immediate. I was swept into the story from the first chapter.
• I felt the cold and the looming danger. The setting was historically rich but it was the way the war atmosphere was written that made this an experience.
• Three characters brought together by circumstance, their resilience and journey both humbling and heart-wrenching. Inspiring in the truest sense.
• I'm not a big fan of books that make me cry but I am a huge fan of this one. I still feel the heaviness in my chest whenever I think of what these women endured.
• The letters: Placed between chapters, they served as the heart of the story — a mother's enduring love and hope woven through the darkness.
⚠️ Content Warnings: War crimes and graphic violence, sexual violence (mention), death of loved ones, starvation and extreme hardship, misogyny and gender-based violence.
Read this if you like: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
One of the most affecting reads of the year — don't sleep on it.
***Audio Note***
Narrator(s): Erin Lin | Sue Jean Kim | James Fouhey
Listening Speed: 1.7x
Rating: Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Audio Experience:
The full cast did a spectacular job pouring emotion into every chapter. The imminent danger felt real — I couldn't rest when Ellie and the women were fleeing the bombing. At 1.7x speed the pacing hit the sweet spot. My heart raced and broke in equal measure.
Best Parts of the Production:
• Erin Lin brought Ellie's stubborn, relentless nature to life through pace, pronunciation, and raw emotion. Her voicing of the characters Ellie encountered felt like entirely different people.
• Sue Jean Kim's reading of the letters was one of my favorite parts of the entire listening experience. I felt the mother's hope and love for her daughter in every word. I looked forward to those letters every time.
The Audio Vibe: Heart-Pounding, Emotional, Hopeful
TL;DR: For a truly immersive experience, pair the audio with the physical book.
Huge thanks to Berkley and Penguin Random House Audio for the early copy.
The Vibe: Sweeping, Heartbreaking, Immersive
I feared for the main character at the same time I was in awe of her tenacity. Her resilience, her drive to get the story, and her instinct for survival kept me in knots. The bond she struck with two other women felt real — their harrowing experiences weren't written for drama but as the honest realities of war.
What I Loved:
• Poignant and immediate. I was swept into the story from the first chapter.
• I felt the cold and the looming danger. The setting was historically rich but it was the way the war atmosphere was written that made this an experience.
• Three characters brought together by circumstance, their resilience and journey both humbling and heart-wrenching. Inspiring in the truest sense.
• I'm not a big fan of books that make me cry but I am a huge fan of this one. I still feel the heaviness in my chest whenever I think of what these women endured.
• The letters: Placed between chapters, they served as the heart of the story — a mother's enduring love and hope woven through the darkness.
⚠️ Content Warnings: War crimes and graphic violence, sexual violence (mention), death of loved ones, starvation and extreme hardship, misogyny and gender-based violence.
Read this if you like: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
One of the most affecting reads of the year — don't sleep on it.
***Audio Note***
Narrator(s): Erin Lin | Sue Jean Kim | James Fouhey
Listening Speed: 1.7x
Rating: Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Audio Experience:
The full cast did a spectacular job pouring emotion into every chapter. The imminent danger felt real — I couldn't rest when Ellie and the women were fleeing the bombing. At 1.7x speed the pacing hit the sweet spot. My heart raced and broke in equal measure.
Best Parts of the Production:
• Erin Lin brought Ellie's stubborn, relentless nature to life through pace, pronunciation, and raw emotion. Her voicing of the characters Ellie encountered felt like entirely different people.
• Sue Jean Kim's reading of the letters was one of my favorite parts of the entire listening experience. I felt the mother's hope and love for her daughter in every word. I looked forward to those letters every time.
The Audio Vibe: Heart-Pounding, Emotional, Hopeful
TL;DR: For a truly immersive experience, pair the audio with the physical book.
Huge thanks to Berkley and Penguin Random House Audio for the early copy.
May 12, 2026
May 12, 2026 Review
:
EVE J. CHUNG HAS DONE IT AGAIN!
Chung's previous debut novel, Daughters of Shandong is one of my favourite historical fiction novels of all time, and I'm happy to announce that her sophomore novel is just as great and even more touching and eye-opening!
Set in 1950-1951, this story follows Ellie Chang, a Taiwanese-American journalist covering the Korean War, who finds herself deep in enemy territory when her plane was shot down. She ends up being rescued by a North Korean woman, Emma, who has been desperately searching for her missing daughter. Along with Emma's friends, the Pak family (Pastor Pak, Imo, and their son Jae-Min), they take Ellie in despite Ellie being American/the enemy. Thankfully, Ellie's fluency in Mandarin and Japanese (languages that more Koreans are familiar with back then due to the former Japanese occupation and proximity and alliance with China) and appearance allows her to blend in to a certain extent. As the war rages on though, it becomes clear that no one in the North is safe and that they must all head south towards safety and for a chance for Ellie to return home.
The first half of this book was a page-turner as I was constantly worrying about Ellie and how she would survive in a war zone where she's surrounded by "enemies" and where her own people would also see her as the enemy. It's a tough situation to be in and I was terrified for her.
The strength of this novel laid in the compelling characters, their backstories, and how they were all affected by the war in different ways. We have:
- Ellie - an American daughter of Taiwanese/Chinese immigrants and a compassionate journalist of two worlds covering a war and empathizing with the pain and loss that North Koreans had to endure;
- Emma - a single mother who will do anything to find her daughter, Yun-Hee, who was taken away during the previous war;
- Pastor Pak - a Pastor who refuses to leave the country despite it being illegal for him to practice his religion; and,
- Imo - a stoic half-Japanese, half-North Korean woman who is ashamed of her Japanese heritage and connections given what happened in WWII.
There were also some very memorable side characters who deserve a shoutout including George (a Japanese-American pilot), Comrade Ying (a Chinese solder), and Jae-Min.
As this is a novel set in a warzone, there was a lot of tension, devastation and heartbreak. Although we're constantly reminded of the brutality of war and how innocent civilians are suffering, we're shown that human compassion (even towards "the enemy") can still exist in times of war and that survival is a team effort.
Overall, this was a very moving story and I was holding back tears by the end of this book.
*All quotes are taken from an Advanced Readers Copy and may change prior to the release of the final copy.*
**I received a physical ARC from Berkley Publishing for review consideration, but all opinions are my own.**
May 5, 2026 Pre-Review :
Happy publishing day!
I'm about 55% into this book, and I can already tell that this is going to be one of my favourite books of the year and the best historical fiction of 2026!
I'm so invested in the characters, I'm terrified of what's going to happen to them (50% in and I'm already feeling so much heartbreak and tenderness for these characters!)
EVE J. CHUNG HAS DONE IT AGAIN!
Chung's previous debut novel, Daughters of Shandong is one of my favourite historical fiction novels of all time, and I'm happy to announce that her sophomore novel is just as great and even more touching and eye-opening!
"The greatest enemy of democracy was not Communism; it was silence and ignorance, whether willfully undertaken or enforced by law.
That was why I chose to write about war. And that was why I was here, in Korea."
Set in 1950-1951, this story follows Ellie Chang, a Taiwanese-American journalist covering the Korean War, who finds herself deep in enemy territory when her plane was shot down. She ends up being rescued by a North Korean woman, Emma, who has been desperately searching for her missing daughter. Along with Emma's friends, the Pak family (Pastor Pak, Imo, and their son Jae-Min), they take Ellie in despite Ellie being American/the enemy. Thankfully, Ellie's fluency in Mandarin and Japanese (languages that more Koreans are familiar with back then due to the former Japanese occupation and proximity and alliance with China) and appearance allows her to blend in to a certain extent. As the war rages on though, it becomes clear that no one in the North is safe and that they must all head south towards safety and for a chance for Ellie to return home.
The first half of this book was a page-turner as I was constantly worrying about Ellie and how she would survive in a war zone where she's surrounded by "enemies" and where her own people would also see her as the enemy. It's a tough situation to be in and I was terrified for her.
The strength of this novel laid in the compelling characters, their backstories, and how they were all affected by the war in different ways. We have:
- Ellie - an American daughter of Taiwanese/Chinese immigrants and a compassionate journalist of two worlds covering a war and empathizing with the pain and loss that North Koreans had to endure;
- Emma - a single mother who will do anything to find her daughter, Yun-Hee, who was taken away during the previous war;
- Pastor Pak - a Pastor who refuses to leave the country despite it being illegal for him to practice his religion; and,
- Imo - a stoic half-Japanese, half-North Korean woman who is ashamed of her Japanese heritage and connections given what happened in WWII.
There were also some very memorable side characters who deserve a shoutout including George (a Japanese-American pilot), Comrade Ying (a Chinese solder), and Jae-Min.
"People everywhere are the same... Regardless of their nationality, they can be kind, and they can be cruel. The world has many selfish leaders, stupid leaders, and terrifying leaders, but it is largely filled with people who want to be good. It doesn't matter where you are in this life. Just pick somewhere where you can live and do good - where your nation does not depend on the ambition and whims of a single man, where you can change your leaders when they fail you."
As this is a novel set in a warzone, there was a lot of tension, devastation and heartbreak. Although we're constantly reminded of the brutality of war and how innocent civilians are suffering, we're shown that human compassion (even towards "the enemy") can still exist in times of war and that survival is a team effort.
Overall, this was a very moving story and I was holding back tears by the end of this book.
*All quotes are taken from an Advanced Readers Copy and may change prior to the release of the final copy.*
**I received a physical ARC from Berkley Publishing for review consideration, but all opinions are my own.**
May 5, 2026 Pre-Review :
Happy publishing day!
I'm about 55% into this book, and I can already tell that this is going to be one of my favourite books of the year and the best historical fiction of 2026!
I'm so invested in the characters, I'm terrified of what's going to happen to them (50% in and I'm already feeling so much heartbreak and tenderness for these characters!)
June 1, 2026
I won my first ever GOODREADS GIVEAWAY! This was a book with a stunning cover so of course I had to enter! Apparently Asian Historical fiction is very much my bag and Eve Chung is an auto read for me because between this book and Daughters of Shandong I LEARNED. I then was able to use that knowledge as I read a story set in Taiwan and understood almost all the references to the Chinese civil war. But I digress…enough fan girling… I wanted this book because it took place in the Korean War “the forgotten war” that not much is ever discussed. My grandfather served in the Korean War and unfortunately, he passed before any war stories could be digested by me. I love how she writes brutal enough to get the point across but chaste enough not to suffer a full-blown trigger attack even as she deals with the triggering topic of “comfort girls” Ellie is a Chinese\ American journalist who volunteers to go into Korea to get THE scoop that butter journalists' bread. The plane she travels in is shot down and Ellie is saved by “Emma”, a woman that mistook Ellie for her lost daughter. So begins Ellie’s trek home and all she discovers and experiences along the way. A very informative read. I only wish that for a story mentions “comfort girls” we got a little more of a story there (I won’t divulge any more since it may include spoilers) so it’s a minor annoyance that slightly dampened my rating. A well done and educational read that solidifies Chung as auto read author for me. Thank you again Goodreads for the giveaway.
November 27, 2025
This in-depth chronicle of the Korean War follows Chinese American correspondent Ellie Chung, who becomes trapped behind enemy lines after her plane is shot down. She's rescued by Emma, a woman who initially mistakes Ellie for her own daughter. Beyond its vivid depiction of the war, the novel weaves in a powerful secondary narrative: Emma's heartbreaking search for her daughter, who was forced into service as a Japanese comfort woman.
My only criticism—one I've noted in reviews of other books as well—is the inclusion of foreign words without definitions or context. I find this distracting and wish authors would provide translations to help readers stay immersed in the story.
My only criticism—one I've noted in reviews of other books as well—is the inclusion of foreign words without definitions or context. I find this distracting and wish authors would provide translations to help readers stay immersed in the story.
Want to Read
September 1, 2025One of my most anticipated reads!!!
May 29, 2026
There are many characters in this historical fiction but the focus is on Eleanor Chang, a Chinese American news correspondent. It's 1950 and Ellie is on a plane full of injured American soldiers trying to get a story. They are shot down in the mountains of North Korea. Soldiers surround the plane, kill the pilot and decide Ellie is a Chinese prostitute for the Americans. She is about to be taken prisoner when a Korean woman called "Emma" shows up. Emma saves Ellie from certain death, declaring Ellie is her daughter Song Yun-Hee, placing herself bodily between the soldiers and Ellie.
Emma has been searching for her daughter Song Yun-Hee for years. The sad thing is, her daughter was conscripted into service in the Korean Army so the mother has no idea where her daughter is or what became of her. If there weren't any males in the family to draft into service the military took the young women. Some went to factories to work, most certainly under horrendous conditions. Others had it worse, especially if they were pretty, and were conscripted to service as "comfort women"...basically sexual slaves. Those details are thankfully not described in this story.
I didn't know that white was the color of mourning, but in Korea it was also the color of resistance. During colonial rule, the Japanese had forbidden Koreans from wearing white, so it became a symbol. And so the rebels wore it. Lots of interesting facts in this book.
There is focus on the travel through North Korea to the south, rebel fighting, American women serving in the military as nurses and correspondents and so much more packed in this book. I would defintely read more by Eve Chung. Themes of resistance, sacrifice and war. A satisfying ending although there was much sadness.
Emma has been searching for her daughter Song Yun-Hee for years. The sad thing is, her daughter was conscripted into service in the Korean Army so the mother has no idea where her daughter is or what became of her. If there weren't any males in the family to draft into service the military took the young women. Some went to factories to work, most certainly under horrendous conditions. Others had it worse, especially if they were pretty, and were conscripted to service as "comfort women"...basically sexual slaves. Those details are thankfully not described in this story.
I didn't know that white was the color of mourning, but in Korea it was also the color of resistance. During colonial rule, the Japanese had forbidden Koreans from wearing white, so it became a symbol. And so the rebels wore it. Lots of interesting facts in this book.
There is focus on the travel through North Korea to the south, rebel fighting, American women serving in the military as nurses and correspondents and so much more packed in this book. I would defintely read more by Eve Chung. Themes of resistance, sacrifice and war. A satisfying ending although there was much sadness.
May 24, 2026
The Korean War has always seemed nebulous to me with most of what I know provided by TV's M.A.S.H.. Eve J. Chung brought it to life with her recently released book The Young Will Remember.
She defined some of the key national players and brought it to life, especially that first coldest winter of 1950-1951. I appreciated that she identified and defined different perspectives.
We follow ambitious and feisty Ellie Chang, a Chinese American journalist who is valued for her ability to communicate with both the Chinese and Japanese. It is a dangerous game she plays and it is soon to become even more so. I won't give it away, but many reviews and the blurb for the book does.
I was impressed by the characterization that she managed. Many of the characters came to life for me. Also I really felt immersed in the setting and the precarious nature of war for civilians.
Chung is a lawyer and a human rights specialist so it should not be surprising that she brings to light issues of women's rights in her book.
The story is truly propulsive and exciting and I gobbled the book down. My only criticism is that it does feel as if it is told from a modern perspective.
She defined some of the key national players and brought it to life, especially that first coldest winter of 1950-1951. I appreciated that she identified and defined different perspectives.
We follow ambitious and feisty Ellie Chang, a Chinese American journalist who is valued for her ability to communicate with both the Chinese and Japanese. It is a dangerous game she plays and it is soon to become even more so. I won't give it away, but many reviews and the blurb for the book does.
I was impressed by the characterization that she managed. Many of the characters came to life for me. Also I really felt immersed in the setting and the precarious nature of war for civilians.
Chung is a lawyer and a human rights specialist so it should not be surprising that she brings to light issues of women's rights in her book.
The story is truly propulsive and exciting and I gobbled the book down. My only criticism is that it does feel as if it is told from a modern perspective.
May 12, 2026
This did not dethrone Daughters of Shandong for me, but still such a gut wrenching look into a part of history I knew little about.
I adore how Eve J. Chung weaves together fiction and reality that is close to her and her family, and I can’t wait to see what she does next
I adore how Eve J. Chung weaves together fiction and reality that is close to her and her family, and I can’t wait to see what she does next
April 25, 2026
first off thank you to netgally for this arc!!!
i’m back arc era you guys! and we started off with such an amazing book! i feel like i blew through this read so fast because it was a really easy read (not in terms of subject matter! because of its readability!!!) cannot recommend this one more
i’m back arc era you guys! and we started off with such an amazing book! i feel like i blew through this read so fast because it was a really easy read (not in terms of subject matter! because of its readability!!!) cannot recommend this one more
May 21, 2026
Eve Chung is a really exciting voice in historical fiction. The Young Will Remember is a deeply immersive and moving novel that asks brave questions many authors in the genre won’t touch. The type of read that leaves you dizzy and wishing for more.
Chung creates characters that meaningfully represent historical figures and their stories, but also cut to the core of what connects us across history and across borders. Read for the emotional punch of The Women, but with haunting perspective and fully developed characters of color at the center (!!!!). I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Chung creates characters that meaningfully represent historical figures and their stories, but also cut to the core of what connects us across history and across borders. Read for the emotional punch of The Women, but with haunting perspective and fully developed characters of color at the center (!!!!). I can’t wait to see what’s next.
March 19, 2026
A Captivating and Thought-Provoking Read
A story of human resilience and courage, improbable alliances, and hope against the backdrop of the toll of the Korean War - the atrocities and the destruction.
This book captured and kept my attention from cover to cover. More than simply a historical and militaristic view of the Korean War, the story explored “the cultural and psychological components of the war,” to borrow an observation from Ellie, the story’s central character. Furthermore, while there are many historical fiction books which center around the World Wars, this is the first fiction book I have read focused on the Korean War, specifically in North Korea. Particularly impactful for me as the reader was understanding the war and its toll, not only from a US-centric view, but also from various North Korean lenses.
A 5 star read that will be among my top 5 historical fiction favs this year.
Note: Thanks to the publishers and #BookBrowse for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of the book.
A story of human resilience and courage, improbable alliances, and hope against the backdrop of the toll of the Korean War - the atrocities and the destruction.
This book captured and kept my attention from cover to cover. More than simply a historical and militaristic view of the Korean War, the story explored “the cultural and psychological components of the war,” to borrow an observation from Ellie, the story’s central character. Furthermore, while there are many historical fiction books which center around the World Wars, this is the first fiction book I have read focused on the Korean War, specifically in North Korea. Particularly impactful for me as the reader was understanding the war and its toll, not only from a US-centric view, but also from various North Korean lenses.
A 5 star read that will be among my top 5 historical fiction favs this year.
Note: Thanks to the publishers and #BookBrowse for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of the book.
Want to Read
August 24, 2025pre-release: i'm so excited for this book! daughters of shandong was one of the best debuts ever & i still think abt it almost every day. i've been waiting for this book since and it can't come fast enough.
May 25, 2026
Thank you to Berkeley Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Young Will Remember offers a compelling and deeply human look at the Korean War from perspectives inside both North and South Korea, which I really enjoyed. I especially appreciated how the novel illuminated the emotional and political realities on both sides of the conflict, giving historical depth to a period I didn’t know much about, particularly from the perspective of the civilians living in Korea during this tumultuous time. The characters felt authentic and well-developed, and I think that in world highly saturated with WWII historical fiction, it's wonderful to see stories told of other wars, especially from the perspective of the other side (or really from the side of an American civilian living with Koreans in North Korea, trying to stay safe).
That said, I did find the pacing a bit slow. Some sections lingered longer than necessary, which occasionally made it harder to stay fully engaged. I ended up finishing the book on audio, because it was easier for me to focus on it for some reason. Think Pachinko or Buckeye with the slow paced story telling, but still ultimately a beautiful story. The rich historical insight and emotional resonance made the book worthwhile overall. I would say this is a thoughtful and moving read for anyone interested in historical fiction or Korean history.
The Young Will Remember offers a compelling and deeply human look at the Korean War from perspectives inside both North and South Korea, which I really enjoyed. I especially appreciated how the novel illuminated the emotional and political realities on both sides of the conflict, giving historical depth to a period I didn’t know much about, particularly from the perspective of the civilians living in Korea during this tumultuous time. The characters felt authentic and well-developed, and I think that in world highly saturated with WWII historical fiction, it's wonderful to see stories told of other wars, especially from the perspective of the other side (or really from the side of an American civilian living with Koreans in North Korea, trying to stay safe).
That said, I did find the pacing a bit slow. Some sections lingered longer than necessary, which occasionally made it harder to stay fully engaged. I ended up finishing the book on audio, because it was easier for me to focus on it for some reason. Think Pachinko or Buckeye with the slow paced story telling, but still ultimately a beautiful story. The rich historical insight and emotional resonance made the book worthwhile overall. I would say this is a thoughtful and moving read for anyone interested in historical fiction or Korean history.
May 6, 2026
Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC.
So many people have grown up hearing to treat a stranger as a member of your own family; but would we really if that opportunity came. Emma decided to treat a stranger as she would've treater her own daughter and it changed that stranger's life forever.
Ellie had massive ambition but ended up learning that; "when you look like the enemy in the land of the free, even your children can end up behind barbed wire;" but that "the greatest enemy of democracy was not Communism; it was silence and ignorance." There were massive character development and growth in all the characters, but this book made me cry so much that I couldn't put it down. This book was a historical fiction must read for anyone who is interested in social justice, Korean history, Chinese history, Japanese history...or anyone who has watched Crash Landing on You and thought; "I wonder what would've happened if something similar happened but during a major war?".
So many people have grown up hearing to treat a stranger as a member of your own family; but would we really if that opportunity came. Emma decided to treat a stranger as she would've treater her own daughter and it changed that stranger's life forever.
Ellie had massive ambition but ended up learning that; "when you look like the enemy in the land of the free, even your children can end up behind barbed wire;" but that "the greatest enemy of democracy was not Communism; it was silence and ignorance." There were massive character development and growth in all the characters, but this book made me cry so much that I couldn't put it down. This book was a historical fiction must read for anyone who is interested in social justice, Korean history, Chinese history, Japanese history...or anyone who has watched Crash Landing on You and thought; "I wonder what would've happened if something similar happened but during a major war?".
May 20, 2026
The Korean War is often referred to as The Forgotten War. This historical fiction by Eve Chung will perhaps serve as a reminder of the causes that lead to this conflict and the lasting effects to the region and the parties involved.
“The Young Will Remember” honors the civilians, especially the women, who are caught in the middle of war. Importantly, it also recognizes war correspondents who risk their lives to deliver critical news to inform our opinions and decisions during times of war and conflict.
Eve Chung’s idea to create a main character whose ethnicity, nationality, gender, and job are at times liabilities and assets makes this novel soar!
“The Young Will Remember” honors the civilians, especially the women, who are caught in the middle of war. Importantly, it also recognizes war correspondents who risk their lives to deliver critical news to inform our opinions and decisions during times of war and conflict.
Eve Chung’s idea to create a main character whose ethnicity, nationality, gender, and job are at times liabilities and assets makes this novel soar!
Read
May 29, 2026An interesting, somewhat heartbreaking story well written by a Taiwanese American human rights lawyer. I plan to read another of her books... Daughters of Shandong.
Read
May 17, 2026This was a DNF for me but I think it was because I did audiobook. I thought the writing and storyline were great, I could not focus on the narration. I will probably come back to this as a physical book.
May 10, 2026
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: A sweeping novel about a correspondent trapped behind enemy lines during the Korean War, and the women who help her find her way home, from the national bestselling author of Daughters of Shandong.
“When I found the courage to lift my head, I expected to stare down the barrel of a gun, but instead there was a woman in front of me, the back of her white skirt embroidered with columns of yellow chrysanthemums.”
1950. It’s the coldest winter in decades, and twenty-eight-year-old Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight to cover a battle in the mountains of North Korea when her plane is shot down.
As she emerges from the fallen aircraft onto an icy field surrounded by the enemy, Ellie is sure it’s the end, certain she’ll never make it home to her parents…until a woman pushes her way through the crowd and claims Ellie as the lost daughter that she’s been searching for since the last war ended. Never mind that Ellie doesn’t speak a word of Korean.
Ellie is taken in by her rescuer—a woman who calls herself “Emma”—and the Paks, a pastor’s family. She knows she can’t stay and yet there’s no way she’ll survive on her own.
As the war intensifies, the sky alighting with bombs overhead, Ellie convinces Emma and the Paks to travel south towards an elusive promise of safety, and where Ellie insists they are more likely to find Emma’s real daughter, stuck on the other side of the frontlines.
Emma’s decision to claim Ellie, and Ellie’s choice to take her hand will connect their lives forever.
Moving and triumphant, The Young Will Remember sheds light on a “Forgotten War,” the resilience of love within our darkest histories, and the indefatigable determination of mothers to protect their children.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Stories with this kind of stakes, "everything changes because one moment to the next a decision is made," always appeal to me. So do stories about Korea, probably because it was my father's wartime experience. This story, then, started out with literally every advantage granted to it.
Why then is my rating so mingy?
Because the author is very, very clear on the story she wants to tell, but rather less so on the craft of storytelling. The dialogue, the scene-setting, the stakes she clearly thought through carefully, all work together. They don't cohere emotionally to punch me in the gut as I weep for the fate awaiting Emma and the Paks if they are not able to use Eleanor's Americanness to leverage an escape.
Here is my opportunity to say that Eleanor's CHINESE-Americanness rubbed a serious saddle-sore on me. Emma claiming this CHINESE-American woman as her long-lost daughter...well, no one in Korea would fall for that for a single second. Han people, assuming that's who Ellie's ancestors were which is by no means guaranteed, are visually quite distinct from the Korean people; it's very "Western" to assume there's no difference, or such a small difference as to be indistinguishable to natives of the region.
So...the story's foundation was my problem, not the story itself. The awful intersection of colonialism and its bastard child warmongering was the source of the story's impetus. As Ellie and Emma navigate their intersecting desires to leave the place they are, escaping the suite of violent terrors that war orchestrates for those who are not allowed control of their world (read: old men), they illuminate the compromises and suffering the old men in charge inflict so indifferently on the world's mass of humanity. In service of what? Does any ideology, any philosophy, justify the titanic life-altering suffering of vast numbers of people? Ellie, a war correspondent, is well placed to use the scalpel of reporting to cut away the rottenness of propaganda to expose the real wounds caused to real people. Emma's loss of her daughter to the Japanese colonialists, probably as a "comfort woman" or, more accurately, a sex slave has wounded her entire family. The author, a lawyer by trade, has clearly read Frantz Fanon ("The formula 'this all happened long ago' is substituted by that of 'we are going to speak of what happened somewhere else, but it might well have happened here today and it might happen tomorrow') or encountered his ideas of the artist as moral actor because this story is very much the argument for despair, and its fellow traveler inactivity, as a moral wrong.
Ellie spends part of the story in survival mode, not doing anything to actively improve her chances for escape. In this time of joining the woman who "claimed" her as a daughter, she is gathering her circle of women who share a goal of ending the harms being done; it's assembling a posse, not only sinking into a morass of misery. Going back to my foundational problem, would Emma's actual daughter need the kind of help and instruction Ellie receives all uncommented on?
It all ends up making this a three-and-a-half star read. I found the prose adequate, if unexciting; quite mannered at times thus unlikely to move me to empathetic tears. The story being told moved me to outrage and its hotter, briefer tears. Ellie...and Emma...are supremely tough women. Reading about their struggles was angering, educational, and instructive. I did not come away converted to Eve Chung fandom though I'll read another story by her. I respect her eye for what makes a good story and hope she will enter into the next one all guns blazing.
The Publisher Says: A sweeping novel about a correspondent trapped behind enemy lines during the Korean War, and the women who help her find her way home, from the national bestselling author of Daughters of Shandong.
“When I found the courage to lift my head, I expected to stare down the barrel of a gun, but instead there was a woman in front of me, the back of her white skirt embroidered with columns of yellow chrysanthemums.”
1950. It’s the coldest winter in decades, and twenty-eight-year-old Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight to cover a battle in the mountains of North Korea when her plane is shot down.
As she emerges from the fallen aircraft onto an icy field surrounded by the enemy, Ellie is sure it’s the end, certain she’ll never make it home to her parents…until a woman pushes her way through the crowd and claims Ellie as the lost daughter that she’s been searching for since the last war ended. Never mind that Ellie doesn’t speak a word of Korean.
Ellie is taken in by her rescuer—a woman who calls herself “Emma”—and the Paks, a pastor’s family. She knows she can’t stay and yet there’s no way she’ll survive on her own.
As the war intensifies, the sky alighting with bombs overhead, Ellie convinces Emma and the Paks to travel south towards an elusive promise of safety, and where Ellie insists they are more likely to find Emma’s real daughter, stuck on the other side of the frontlines.
Emma’s decision to claim Ellie, and Ellie’s choice to take her hand will connect their lives forever.
Moving and triumphant, The Young Will Remember sheds light on a “Forgotten War,” the resilience of love within our darkest histories, and the indefatigable determination of mothers to protect their children.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Stories with this kind of stakes, "everything changes because one moment to the next a decision is made," always appeal to me. So do stories about Korea, probably because it was my father's wartime experience. This story, then, started out with literally every advantage granted to it.
Why then is my rating so mingy?
Because the author is very, very clear on the story she wants to tell, but rather less so on the craft of storytelling. The dialogue, the scene-setting, the stakes she clearly thought through carefully, all work together. They don't cohere emotionally to punch me in the gut as I weep for the fate awaiting Emma and the Paks if they are not able to use Eleanor's Americanness to leverage an escape.
Here is my opportunity to say that Eleanor's CHINESE-Americanness rubbed a serious saddle-sore on me. Emma claiming this CHINESE-American woman as her long-lost daughter...well, no one in Korea would fall for that for a single second. Han people, assuming that's who Ellie's ancestors were which is by no means guaranteed, are visually quite distinct from the Korean people; it's very "Western" to assume there's no difference, or such a small difference as to be indistinguishable to natives of the region.
So...the story's foundation was my problem, not the story itself. The awful intersection of colonialism and its bastard child warmongering was the source of the story's impetus. As Ellie and Emma navigate their intersecting desires to leave the place they are, escaping the suite of violent terrors that war orchestrates for those who are not allowed control of their world (read: old men), they illuminate the compromises and suffering the old men in charge inflict so indifferently on the world's mass of humanity. In service of what? Does any ideology, any philosophy, justify the titanic life-altering suffering of vast numbers of people? Ellie, a war correspondent, is well placed to use the scalpel of reporting to cut away the rottenness of propaganda to expose the real wounds caused to real people. Emma's loss of her daughter to the Japanese colonialists, probably as a "comfort woman" or, more accurately, a sex slave has wounded her entire family. The author, a lawyer by trade, has clearly read Frantz Fanon ("The formula 'this all happened long ago' is substituted by that of 'we are going to speak of what happened somewhere else, but it might well have happened here today and it might happen tomorrow') or encountered his ideas of the artist as moral actor because this story is very much the argument for despair, and its fellow traveler inactivity, as a moral wrong.
Ellie spends part of the story in survival mode, not doing anything to actively improve her chances for escape. In this time of joining the woman who "claimed" her as a daughter, she is gathering her circle of women who share a goal of ending the harms being done; it's assembling a posse, not only sinking into a morass of misery. Going back to my foundational problem, would Emma's actual daughter need the kind of help and instruction Ellie receives all uncommented on?
It all ends up making this a three-and-a-half star read. I found the prose adequate, if unexciting; quite mannered at times thus unlikely to move me to empathetic tears. The story being told moved me to outrage and its hotter, briefer tears. Ellie...and Emma...are supremely tough women. Reading about their struggles was angering, educational, and instructive. I did not come away converted to Eve Chung fandom though I'll read another story by her. I respect her eye for what makes a good story and hope she will enter into the next one all guns blazing.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"Because I believe in telling the truth. And I care about democracy. In order to make the right decisions, and to vote for the right representatives, people have to know what's happening. They deserve to have real information.”
“It takes courage to go to a new country. It's a different kind of courage than staying to fight, but it take strength. Immigration is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes it takes courage just to persist amid the ugliness of this world.”
“We were trying to fight Mao, but he wasn't mortal anymore. He was an ideology, and he thrived, not simply on Marxism or any other type of Communism, but on the trauma of colonialism."
"A needle mends, while a pen exposes, and the mere existence of a woman who wields the latter is a threat."
“[W]ithout truth, freedom was no more than an illusion, and choice a curated platter. The greatest enemy of democracy was not Communism; it was silence and ignorance, whether willfully undertaken or enforced by law.”
"History was a chain, and too often it was wrapped around women's necks. In every country, there were monuments dedicated to men who waged wars. How many had anything to honor the women who suffered through them, or survived them?"
“No matter how hard some forces try to destroy the beauty in this world, it will persist somewhere. It will survive somewhere, cutting through the dark, untouchable and incomparable. Divine. The old will die, but the young will remember.”
wow where do i even begin?? still wiping my tears away bc the last 20% of the book had me crying so hard😭
this book was one i really wish i had while growing up, but am glad i'm reading now. we barely learned anything about the korean war in school and the very little we did, we had a very biased/skewed perception of how america was "helping" by intervening, when it really did more harm than good (as it continues to butt into other countries' conflicts- very timely to read this book now in light of what's happening around the world...). we also did not learn much about the japanese occupation of korea, taiwan, and the phillipines, and it was something that i learned from my mom, whose family lived during the japanese occupation of taiwan. i love how chung does not shy away from the atrocities of war, especially the ignored stories of comfort women and sexual violence/slavery. we definitely did not learn any of this in school and i learned about the horrific rape of nanjing from my parents.
i thought chung crafted multiple characters, all beautiful, raw, and at times, heartbreaking. each character had so much depth and it was so fascinating to see all their storylines intertwine. the novel is mainly told through taiwanese american correspondent, ellie, and her experience in north korea, after her plane is shot down. from the moment she is saved by emma, a north korean woman, who claims that ellie is her long lost daughter, we embark on a journey full of despair, war destruction, forced survival, and tragedy, but also hope, family/love behind enemy lines, resistance, and motherhood. the found family in this book is truly remarkable; the way that everyone shows up for each other despite different backgrounds and cultures was so beautiful and precious - ellie's relationship with both emma and imo truly warmed my heart.
i think my favorite part of this book is what i also enjoyed in DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG, chung's first novel -- the humanity and camaraderie in war that's rarely talked about. i loved how ellie learns and grows as she firsthand experiences the atrocities of war and documents otherwise untold stories from chinese soldiers, north korean pastors, and comfort women.
lastly, i loved reading ellie's reflections and the letters to her parents throughout the book (also emma's letters to yun hee😭). i definitely feel like she grew as a person and broadened her worldviews. i especially felt so seen as a taiwanese american myself, living between two cultures, never feeling completely one or the other. ellie's experience as an asian american woman as a correspondent in the 1950s was also something i could relate to, since the legal profession today still is predominantly white men. (i also love that chung herself is an international human rights lawyer in real life - that definitely came through in ellie's thoughts and reflections and the author's note was so informative and equally as powerful).
i don't want to spoil anything, but the ending of this book was incredible. you'll just have to read it to know what happens.
thank you Eve, for this beautifully written, heartbreaking/heartwarming, powerful story and thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC and Berkley Pub for a gifted finished copy<3
(tbh ill prob be back to add more but that's my braindump review for now lol)
“It takes courage to go to a new country. It's a different kind of courage than staying to fight, but it take strength. Immigration is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes it takes courage just to persist amid the ugliness of this world.”
“We were trying to fight Mao, but he wasn't mortal anymore. He was an ideology, and he thrived, not simply on Marxism or any other type of Communism, but on the trauma of colonialism."
"A needle mends, while a pen exposes, and the mere existence of a woman who wields the latter is a threat."
“[W]ithout truth, freedom was no more than an illusion, and choice a curated platter. The greatest enemy of democracy was not Communism; it was silence and ignorance, whether willfully undertaken or enforced by law.”
"History was a chain, and too often it was wrapped around women's necks. In every country, there were monuments dedicated to men who waged wars. How many had anything to honor the women who suffered through them, or survived them?"
“No matter how hard some forces try to destroy the beauty in this world, it will persist somewhere. It will survive somewhere, cutting through the dark, untouchable and incomparable. Divine. The old will die, but the young will remember.”
wow where do i even begin?? still wiping my tears away bc the last 20% of the book had me crying so hard😭
this book was one i really wish i had while growing up, but am glad i'm reading now. we barely learned anything about the korean war in school and the very little we did, we had a very biased/skewed perception of how america was "helping" by intervening, when it really did more harm than good (as it continues to butt into other countries' conflicts- very timely to read this book now in light of what's happening around the world...). we also did not learn much about the japanese occupation of korea, taiwan, and the phillipines, and it was something that i learned from my mom, whose family lived during the japanese occupation of taiwan. i love how chung does not shy away from the atrocities of war, especially the ignored stories of comfort women and sexual violence/slavery. we definitely did not learn any of this in school and i learned about the horrific rape of nanjing from my parents.
i thought chung crafted multiple characters, all beautiful, raw, and at times, heartbreaking. each character had so much depth and it was so fascinating to see all their storylines intertwine. the novel is mainly told through taiwanese american correspondent, ellie, and her experience in north korea, after her plane is shot down. from the moment she is saved by emma, a north korean woman, who claims that ellie is her long lost daughter, we embark on a journey full of despair, war destruction, forced survival, and tragedy, but also hope, family/love behind enemy lines, resistance, and motherhood. the found family in this book is truly remarkable; the way that everyone shows up for each other despite different backgrounds and cultures was so beautiful and precious - ellie's relationship with both emma and imo truly warmed my heart.
i think my favorite part of this book is what i also enjoyed in DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG, chung's first novel -- the humanity and camaraderie in war that's rarely talked about. i loved how ellie learns and grows as she firsthand experiences the atrocities of war and documents otherwise untold stories from chinese soldiers, north korean pastors, and comfort women.
lastly, i loved reading ellie's reflections and the letters to her parents throughout the book (also emma's letters to yun hee😭). i definitely feel like she grew as a person and broadened her worldviews. i especially felt so seen as a taiwanese american myself, living between two cultures, never feeling completely one or the other. ellie's experience as an asian american woman as a correspondent in the 1950s was also something i could relate to, since the legal profession today still is predominantly white men. (i also love that chung herself is an international human rights lawyer in real life - that definitely came through in ellie's thoughts and reflections and the author's note was so informative and equally as powerful).
i don't want to spoil anything, but the ending of this book was incredible. you'll just have to read it to know what happens.
thank you Eve, for this beautifully written, heartbreaking/heartwarming, powerful story and thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC and Berkley Pub for a gifted finished copy<3
(tbh ill prob be back to add more but that's my braindump review for now lol)
May 6, 2026
Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this novel.
The title of this absorbing historical novel reflects what motivates the main character, a Chinese-American journalist, to bear witness to the suffering of all living things during and for generations after the Korean War (1950-51). Although Eleanor (Ellie) Chang is a fictional character, her experiences while covering the war for a major American newspaper amplify her commitment to truth-telling, both as an individual, and as a reporter of Asian heritage. Caught behind enemy lines in North Korea, Ellie is at first elated by her luck in escaping death and imprisonment. Just as her fighter plane’s crew (mostly injured soldiers) is captured after being shot down near Pyongyang, she is saved by an impecunious Korean woman who badgers the captors until they release her. The elderly North Korean woman, whom she mistakenly calls Emma after hearing her identify herself as Eomma (mother), initially thinks that Ellie is her long missing daughter. Yun-her. Along with many other young Korean women, Hun -See was forced into military sexual slavery. Her mother never gave up believing that she was alive and never stopped looking for her. Precariously hiding under her new identity with Eomma and the Pak family, a stalwart Korean Christian pastor, his wife and university student son, Ellie experiences the neverending trauma of civilian life in wartime.
The author, who is an International Affairs scholar, has done a remarkable amount of historical research from government documents. Her afterword points out that Korea is, for the Western world, ‘the forgotten war.’ Despite her own background and Asian heritage, she was startled to discover how deliberately the war was forgotten—especially considering that it had every possibility of igniting a third world war barely five years after the second. There is little taught about it to the young, belying the notion that they will remember, and reinforcing the importance of ensuring that they do.
This point is brought home by Ellie’s work after the war, when she has safely reached her family home in California. She quickly discovers that the end of hostilities effectively ends all public interest, both government and media. No newspaper wants her war stories. But she sets herself to working for the aid associations helping to resettle the dispossessed, and to account for the dead and missing. Nearly a half century after the war, in 1991, the few survivors among the so-called ‘comfort women’ finally came forward to demand an official apology from the Japanese government. No acceptable wording is devised between the Korean and Japanese government, and the acknowledgement was clinched in the entirely false claim that there is no viable evidence.
Fbelying struggles of the Koreans, divided up between the Soviet/Chinese Communists, with the Korean Liberation Army taking over the North.
Ellie is an admirable, fiercely courageous young woman who will not let the gender and race prejudices of her time prevent her from following in the footsteps of the pioneering embedded female reporters of the Second World War. But her story takes a different twist in that she lost any official standing or position with the UN (mostly American) troops on her capture, and had to appear to support and work for the enemy side to save herself, Eomma, and the Pak family.
The author writes forcefully in her clear and entirely plausible imagining of how daily life was negotiated for both civilians (on all sides) and ordinary soldiers in times of war. I could almost feel the constant fear, cold, hunger and exhaustion. Just as upsetting was how they, and Ellie too, wanted to believe what their governments told them about the proximity of total victory and a better future. How would people otherwise be persuaded to kill each other, neighbours and strangers, in great numbers?
This book tells a harrowing story, made all the more so because much of it is based on little known historical fact, and because much of it points to what has happened since and continues to happen. The trauma is embodied in future generations, and especially in women. History, she reminds us, is a chain, and ‘too often it was wrapped around women’s necks.’
The title of this absorbing historical novel reflects what motivates the main character, a Chinese-American journalist, to bear witness to the suffering of all living things during and for generations after the Korean War (1950-51). Although Eleanor (Ellie) Chang is a fictional character, her experiences while covering the war for a major American newspaper amplify her commitment to truth-telling, both as an individual, and as a reporter of Asian heritage. Caught behind enemy lines in North Korea, Ellie is at first elated by her luck in escaping death and imprisonment. Just as her fighter plane’s crew (mostly injured soldiers) is captured after being shot down near Pyongyang, she is saved by an impecunious Korean woman who badgers the captors until they release her. The elderly North Korean woman, whom she mistakenly calls Emma after hearing her identify herself as Eomma (mother), initially thinks that Ellie is her long missing daughter. Yun-her. Along with many other young Korean women, Hun -See was forced into military sexual slavery. Her mother never gave up believing that she was alive and never stopped looking for her. Precariously hiding under her new identity with Eomma and the Pak family, a stalwart Korean Christian pastor, his wife and university student son, Ellie experiences the neverending trauma of civilian life in wartime.
The author, who is an International Affairs scholar, has done a remarkable amount of historical research from government documents. Her afterword points out that Korea is, for the Western world, ‘the forgotten war.’ Despite her own background and Asian heritage, she was startled to discover how deliberately the war was forgotten—especially considering that it had every possibility of igniting a third world war barely five years after the second. There is little taught about it to the young, belying the notion that they will remember, and reinforcing the importance of ensuring that they do.
This point is brought home by Ellie’s work after the war, when she has safely reached her family home in California. She quickly discovers that the end of hostilities effectively ends all public interest, both government and media. No newspaper wants her war stories. But she sets herself to working for the aid associations helping to resettle the dispossessed, and to account for the dead and missing. Nearly a half century after the war, in 1991, the few survivors among the so-called ‘comfort women’ finally came forward to demand an official apology from the Japanese government. No acceptable wording is devised between the Korean and Japanese government, and the acknowledgement was clinched in the entirely false claim that there is no viable evidence.
Fbelying struggles of the Koreans, divided up between the Soviet/Chinese Communists, with the Korean Liberation Army taking over the North.
Ellie is an admirable, fiercely courageous young woman who will not let the gender and race prejudices of her time prevent her from following in the footsteps of the pioneering embedded female reporters of the Second World War. But her story takes a different twist in that she lost any official standing or position with the UN (mostly American) troops on her capture, and had to appear to support and work for the enemy side to save herself, Eomma, and the Pak family.
The author writes forcefully in her clear and entirely plausible imagining of how daily life was negotiated for both civilians (on all sides) and ordinary soldiers in times of war. I could almost feel the constant fear, cold, hunger and exhaustion. Just as upsetting was how they, and Ellie too, wanted to believe what their governments told them about the proximity of total victory and a better future. How would people otherwise be persuaded to kill each other, neighbours and strangers, in great numbers?
This book tells a harrowing story, made all the more so because much of it is based on little known historical fact, and because much of it points to what has happened since and continues to happen. The trauma is embodied in future generations, and especially in women. History, she reminds us, is a chain, and ‘too often it was wrapped around women’s necks.’
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