“The Apology is an uncanny high wire act — arch, tender, mercurial—Jimin Han feels like Iris Murdoch’s heir here, eve as this novel came from an artistry that is all her own. This is a story unlike any other of Korea and America, with a mother’s love made majestic, a deathless avenger, shrewd and wild, and an ajumma willing to do anything for her family, even from beyond her grave.”

— Alexander Chee, Author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

“What does it mean to be the keeper of the stories? What does it mean to be left behind? The Apology shows Jimin Han’s talents as a skillful storyteller, interweaving questions of sisterhood and separation, generational secrets and ancestral love, through a singular and unforgettable centenarian voice.”

— Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers

“An intriguing, genre-bending novel that proves that the bonds—and grudges—of siblinghood exist beyond the grave. Insightful about secret-keeping and hopeful about the redemptive power of love, Jimin Han is a literary medium for imperfect families.”

— Courtney Maum, author of The Year of the Horses

“The Apology is a vividly rendered novel about the long life spans of secrets, featuring an unforgettable 105-year-old narrator who is as stubborn and proud as she is spirited. With depth, emotion, and total clarity of vision, Jimin Han has crafted a wonderfully moving story about love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, and the lengths that one woman will go to in this world and the next to undo the mistakes of the past.”

— Jung Yun, author of O Beautiful and Shelter

“Jeonga, a centenarian with two centenarian sisters, has done her best to hide a family secret, even sacrificing relationships with her son and her beloved to do so. Now, at the end of her life, that secret threatens to curse the family for generations. Speaking from beyond the grave, Jeonga narrates the mystery of why we make the choices we make even when they hurt the ones we love. Like magic, this book is at once a page-turning mystery, a supernatural odyssey, a family saga, and a Korean melodrama. Count me forever among Han’s audience.”

— Matthew Salesses, author of The Sense of Wonder and Craft in the Real World

“Jimin Han’s The Apology is a captivating multigenerational story of love and secrets, forgiveness and redemption, and how our decisions and actions can reverberate through time, touching the lives of others in ways we cannot anticipate. Han’s clear-eyed insights and rich imaginative powers are on full and impressive display in this intricately woven portrait of a fierce, determined, and wickedly funny matriarch at the end of her life (and beyond). An original and memorable novel. I did not want it to end!”

— Mary-Kim Arnold, author of Litany for the Long Moment and The Fish and the Dove

“Bold, original, and utterly captivating, The Apology is a sweeping intergenerational saga, delivered by one of the sharpest, most memorable voices I’ve ever read. A stunning new novel by a writer whose work I’ve long admired.”

— Kirstin Chen, author of Counterfeit

“In The Apology, Jimin Han deftly threads a comedic line through a multigenerational family chock-full of grievances and perceived slights. The impudent yet vulnerable narrator, Jeonga, shows us something she’d never reveal to her sisters: her pain and her joy. She’ll fight to the death—and beyond—to do what she thinks is right, and she’ll win the hearts of readers while doing so.”

— Ed Lin, author of Ghost Month

“A riveting, hilarious, and moving tale of a woman on a journey through two countries and two planes of existence. An authentic and wonderfully executed tale of secrets and their consequences.”

— Minsoo Kang, author of Of Tales and Enigmas and translator of the Penguin Classics edition of The Story of Hong Gildong

“What a superb story this is, unweaving the tangle of family history—and the wrongheaded honor that has walled out love—as this remarkable novel moves from the unguessable to the expansively imagined. It’s a maze of leaps—across boundaries beyond the known—as one woman grapples with the impossible question of how wrongs can be righted. A memorable and wonderfully original book.”

— Joan Silber, author of Secrets of Happiness and Improvement

“The Apology is a remarkable achievement, weaving together psychological suspense, Korean myth, and an intense scrutiny of family relationships as these are influenced by war and history. Calling to mind the scathing emotional precision of Elena Ferrante and the Korean gender and social critique of Han Kang, Jimin Han is a force to be reckoned with in this novel—and so is Mrs. Jeonga Cha, a resourceful and brave matriarch in this life and the next.”

— Chaya Bhuvaneswar, author of White Dancing Elephants

“Jimin Han has woven a marvelous madcap novel of love and loyalty, the living and the dead, and a family that’s haunted—by the past, by war, by distance and silence carried across generations. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, The Apology tells the tale of Jeonga, a proud, isolated, deeply judgmental, and wholly unforgettable centenarian matriarch whose dedication to keeping up appearances leads to her ultimate undoing—and her one chance at redemption. An epic, intricate, and wildly entertaining journey of reckoning and reconnection across oceans and astral planes, The Apology is a powerful fable of family secrets and the lengths we go to keep them—and how the truth, in the end, will set us free.”

— Melissa Faliveno, author of Tomboyland

“In The Apology, Jimin Han has proven herself to be an ace storyteller, observing the hilarious micro-interactions of her characters while also taking us on an epic journey over many generations and many realms. We view the world through the eyes of Jeonga, her 105-year-old narrator, and while we may laugh at her self-absorption and blind spots, Han also manages to make us feel the slights and stings she endures and long for her redemption and peace.”

— Deborah Zoe Laufer, playwright, author of End Days, Informed Consent, and Be Here Now

“With a deft brush, Han paints the quirks and preoccupations of old age as the secrets of her heroine jettison her across the world and smack into another one, literally. What follows is an inspiring, often funny, and always engaging tale of the complications of familial love.”

— Gloria Hatrick, author of Masks

“Jimin Han’s riveting, multigenerational family epic is a wonder—a journey that takes us across continents and worlds and plunges us into the deepest reaches of the human heart. In Jeonga, Han gives us the profoundly moving portrait of a family matriarch who must sacrifice all in her determination to save her descendants; in doing so, she also ultimately redeems herself.”

— Kate Brandt, author of Hope for the Worst

“In The Apology, Jimin Han gives us a complex centenarian character motivated by love and family in Jeonga, the youngest of four wealthy Korean women. Han’s exquisite descriptions and unfolding of secrets kept me engrossed, even when Jeonga was at her most undesirable. Seriously, I did not want this book to end! Refreshing to have such a new take on tradition, reputation, and the smallness of our world.”

— DeMisty D. Bellinger, author of New to Liberty and Peculiar Heritage

“Jimin Han’s The Apology delights and surprises at every turn—in every chapter, on every page. The narrator is a cranky centenarian! There are family secrets plus wonderful comedic passages in a novel that doesn’t shy away from history or death. It’s a comic novel with a serious touch, a serious novel with a comic touch. It’s that rare combo, serious and comic all at once, deeply felt, deeply alive, brilliantly rendered, and willing to explore the complicated affiliations that form along bloodlines, generational divides, class, and love. Also? A hell of a good read, generous with its ghosts both literal and figurative, told with wit and relish.”

— Juan Martinez, author of Best Worst American and Extended Stay

“The sins of the parents visited on the children—it’s an iconic theme but one that feels razor-sharp in Jimin Han’s new novel, The Apology. Jeonga, a wealthy and prideful South Korean centenarian, gets a rude awakening when a decision of passion she made decades ago seems destined to cause catastrophe for her progeny. Her need to correct her mistake takes her around the world and even into the afterlife, where she confronts truths she never wanted to face as she pursues a better outcome. Unique and totally absorbing, The Apology is a story that delves into matters of family, love, tradition, and harsh self-awareness as it exposes the secrets we keep from others—and those we keep from ourselves.”

— Barbara Josselsohn, author The Lilac House and The Cranberry Inn

“Han’s remarkable story, at times hilarious, always gripping, took me on a journey with her unrelenting 105-year-old protagonist who refuses to let anything, even death, stop her from saving her family from the impending disaster she put into motion decades earlier. I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the last word, and then I read it again.”

— Patricia Dunn, author of Last Stop on the 6 and Rebels by Accident

“It begins with a bus accident, but really it began so long ago. The Apology is a work of tenderness and empathy, a portrait of family and memory, of different generations colliding across multiple dimensions both literal and the afterlife. Jimin Han has conjured more than ghosts here, and you should listen to her story.”

— Michael J. Seidlinger, author of Anybody Home? and Scream (Object Lessons)