The Calligrapher's Daughter - Tapa blanda

'The Calligrapher's Daughter fascinated me, as much for its characters as for its engrossing story of Korea under the Japanese occupation. Najin's father is admirable for exactly the same traits that make him difficult, and her apparantly passive mother is heroic. I can't stop thinking about them and their honest, brave and very human daughter' Alice Mattison, author of The Book Borrower 'A beautiful, deliberate and satisfying story spanning thirty years of Korean history' Publishers Weekly, starred review 'Kim opens a window into a vanished world in this sensitively rendered homage to her mother's life ... [an] achingly beautiful tribute to female perseverance and survival' Booklist 'Kim has excelled at portraying Najin as a spirited yet loyal daughter and wife while exposing a tragic time during Korea's sustained history as a nation' Library Journal

Najin Han, the privileged daughter of a calligrapher, longs to choose her own destiny. Smart and headstrong, she is encouraged by her mother-but her stern father is determined to maintain tradition, especially as the Japanese steadily gain control of his beloved country. When he seeks to marry fourteen-year-old Najin into an aristocratic family, her mother defies generations of obedient wives and instead sends her daughter to serve in the king's court as a companion to a young princess. But the king is soon assassinated, and the centuries-old dynastic culture comes to its end. In the shadow of the dying monarchy, Najin begins a journey through increasing oppression that will change her world forever. As she desperately seeks to continue her education, will the unexpected love she finds along the way be enough to sustain her through the violence and subjugation her country continues to face? Spanning thirty years, The Calligapher's Daughter is an exquisite novel about a country torn between ancient customs and modern possibilities, a family ultimately united by love and a woman who never gives up her search for freedom.