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Lessons in Attention: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 22 Jun 27Jimin Kang’s stunning debut novel about grief, faith, and what it means to belong to a place and other people
When Toby Burton, an Oxford-born philosophy student, goes missing on a research trip in Brazil, his friend Lua Oliveira—a Brazilian translator recently moved to England from America—is forced to confront her involvement in his disappearance.
As Lua’s Korean American ex-boyfriend Elias arrives in Oxford to support the search, Lua begrudgingly enlists the help not only of the local Quaker community but her estranged mother, a retired diplomat-turned-evangelical Christian in São Paulo.
Lessons in Attention explores themes of faith, belonging, translation, and the meaning of attention, raising the question of how thoroughly we know the people we love—if we choose to see them fully at all.
When Toby Burton, an Oxford-born philosophy student, goes missing on a research trip in Brazil, his friend Lua Oliveira—a Brazilian translator recently moved to England from America—is forced to confront her involvement in his disappearance.
As Lua’s Korean American ex-boyfriend Elias arrives in Oxford to support the search, Lua begrudgingly enlists the help not only of the local Quaker community but her estranged mother, a retired diplomat-turned-evangelical Christian in São Paulo.
Lessons in Attention explores themes of faith, belonging, translation, and the meaning of attention, raising the question of how thoroughly we know the people we love—if we choose to see them fully at all.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication June 22, 2027
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 31, 2026
First, thank you to the publisher for an advance copy!
This was a most beautiful story - one that is felt rather than held. The description of the book says all that you need to know before you start this journey of grieving and belonging and remembering in different light.
I had to keep checking to see if this was instead a memoir, because the intimacy with which Jimin Kang allows us into Lua’s thoughts was flawless.
Amazing, amazing.
This was a most beautiful story - one that is felt rather than held. The description of the book says all that you need to know before you start this journey of grieving and belonging and remembering in different light.
I had to keep checking to see if this was instead a memoir, because the intimacy with which Jimin Kang allows us into Lua’s thoughts was flawless.
Amazing, amazing.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review