A teenager grapples with the concepts of belonging and loss.
Winter Moon, a 17-year-old Korean American girl, lives with her harsh and self-centered mother and her beloved and caring halmoni; she has only vague memories of the father who abandoned them when she was small. Her grandmother’s love has been the sole nurturing Winter’s known. She’s determined to someday escape her tired Sierra Park, California, life along with Halmoni, and so she works hard, stowing away her meager earnings even as she struggles with her mother’s constant need for money. Everything changes when Winter’s white stepmother suddenly appears on behalf of her father, offering to pay her if only she’ll meet with him. At school, Joon Seo, the new boy from New Jersey, makes her feel seen—like Winter, he craves an elusive sense of acceptance. Amid this emotional turmoil, tragedy strikes. Written in short chapters, the book is a fast-moving and heart-wrenching read. Although a visceral feeling of grief runs through the book, the lucid writing buoys the story, offering glimpses of joyful memories and tender moments as Winter makes sense of her life. Love wrapped up in loss, sharply etched characters, a strong sense of place, and the need to belong—whether with family or friends—makes Yi’s debut an absorbing read. In an author’s note, she movingly describes her own journey with grief.
A powerful, deftly told story of loss and love that will linger in readers' hearts.
(Fiction. 14-18)