FORGOTTEN COUNTRY

Because of their brilliant mathematician father’s politics, sisters Janie and Hannah and their parents are forced to flee Korea for America. The sisters grow up close, with Janie obliged to protect the younger Hannah. The girls experience prejudice and racism, but the family unit remains close, until, inexplicably, Hannah disappears. When their father develops cancer and must go to Seoul for experimental therapy, Janie is sent to find Hannah to convince her to come with the family to Korea. Emily Woo Zeller’s lilting voice brings out both Janie’s resentment toward and love for her sister. Through Korean folktales, family stories and day-to-day accounts, Zeller gives Catherine Chung’s tender novel a clear-eyed, unsentimental, frequently heartbreaking look into the nature of familial relationships and filial obligations. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2012]