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Yoojin Grace Wuertz author of Everything Belongs To Us

Kirkus

"ENGROSSING. WUERTZ IS AN IMPORTANT NEW VOICE IN AMERICAN FICTION."

Kirkus (Starred Review)

2016-10-18T16:49:36+00:00

Kirkus (Starred Review)

"ENGROSSING. WUERTZ IS AN IMPORTANT NEW VOICE IN AMERICAN FICTION."

The New York Times Book Review

"A “Gatsby”-esque takedown of 1970s South Korea"

—The New York Times Book Review

2017-03-14T03:41:04+00:00

—The New York Times Book Review

"A “Gatsby”-esque takedown of 1970s South Korea"

Susan Choi

"A Middlemarch for modern South Korea."

—Susan Choi, author of My Education

2016-10-18T16:50:52+00:00

—Susan Choi, author of My Education

"A Middlemarch for modern South Korea."

Booklist

“An absorbing debut destined for major lists and nominations.”

—Booklist

2016-10-20T19:43:01+00:00

—Booklist

“An absorbing debut destined for major lists and nominations.”

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Everything Belongs To Us by Yoojin Grace Wuertz Two young women of vastly different means each struggle to find her own way during the darkest hours of South Korea’s “economic miracle” in a striking debut novel for readers of Anthony Marra and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.

Seoul, 1978. At South Korea’s top university, the nation’s best and brightest compete to join the professional elite of an authoritarian regime. Success could lead to a life of rarefied privilege and wealth; failure means being left irrevocably behind.

For childhood friends Jisun and Namin, the stakes couldn’t be more different. Jisun, the daughter of a powerful business mogul, grew up on a mountainside estate with lush gardens and a dedicated chauffeur. Namin’s parents run a tented food cart from dawn to curfew; her sister works in a shoe factory. Now Jisun wants as little to do with her father’s world as possible, abandoning her schoolwork in favor of the underground activist movement, while Namin studies tirelessly in the service of one goal: to launch herself and her family out of poverty.

But everything changes when Jisun and Namin meet an ambitious, charming student named Sunam, whose need to please his family has led him to a prestigious club: the Circle. Under the influence of his mentor, Juno, a manipulative social climber, Sunam becomes entangled with both women, as they all make choices that will change their lives forever.



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“Historic in scope yet eerily contemporary...a stirring debut that immerses readers in a society where some quietly hope for change and others must demand it”
—Jung Yun, author of Shelter