I’d love to join your book club
On Zoom from anywhere, or in person around the Bay Area
One of the gifts of this season has been connecting with readers about Song for Another Home. If your book club is reading it, or thinking about it, I’d be glad to join your conversation, on Zoom from anywhere or in person around the Bay Area.
Book club conversations are where I learn what the book means to readers, and they’ve become one of my favorite parts of being an author.
The story behind the book
The novel grew out of my own family’s story. In the fall of 1950, my grandfather, a Methodist pastor, left Pyongyang to visit churches he had planted in distant villages. He was still away when China entered the war. As the fighting reached Pyongyang, my father, then fifteen, fled with his mother and younger siblings, not knowing whether they would ever see my grandfather again. I grew up with these stories of displacement, loss, and family separation.
What a visit looks like
- About 45 to 60 minutes, usually at the start or end of your meeting
- I’ll share a bit about the family history behind the novel and how it became a book, sometimes with a photo or two
- Then it’s your conversation: your questions, favorite moments, and the characters you loved or argued about
- Virtual visits work anywhere. In-person visits are possible around the Bay Area.
- There’s no fee.
Discussion guide
A free reading group guide, with discussion questions, a map, a short timeline of the Korean War, and a family photo, is available to help your group dig in.
Invite me
Fill out the short form below and I’ll get back to you within a week. It helps to reach out at least three or four weeks before your meeting.
About the book
Song for Another Home (37Ink / Simon & Schuster) has been called “Pachinko meets Homegoing.” Set during the Korean War, it follows a family shaped by survival and sacrifice, and the power of hope through separation and loss.
“Reed’s fully drawn characters are a wonder, wielding hope and transforming through separations, hardships, and heartbreak, while cherishing their dreams and discovering unexpected found family.”
The Christian Science Monitor
“In this moving debut by the Korean-American writer Bora Lee Reed, the guns and the soldiers are an offstage menace. The novel is concerned with how life persists in the shadow of war, and how small, happy lives can be devastated by careless decisions made elsewhere.”
The Times (London)
Bora Lee Reed is a Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow.