The surrendered - Chang-rae Lee

June Han has forged a life thousands of miles from her birthplace: she has built a business in New York, survived a husband, borne a child. But her past holds more secrets than she has ever been able to tell, and thirty years after her escape from war-ravaged Korea, the time has come for her to confront them.Hector Brennan, fighter, drinker and 'failure grand and total', is the man who long ago saved June's life. And between them lies the story of the beautiful, damaged Sylvie Tanner, whose elusive love they both once sought. On a journey that takes them from the scorched hillsides and abandoned rice paddies of a shattered Korea to a blood-soaked century-old Italian battlefield, together June and Hector go in search of their past, bound together by a legacy of shocking acts of violence and love.Compelling, suspenseful and unforgettable, THE SURRENDERED is a stunning epic of war, redemption and human longing. It is a masterpiece.

Chang-rae Lee is the author of the bestselling novel Native Speaker, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/Pen award. He teaches at Princeton University.

** 'Masterful . . . THE SURRENDERED bursts with drama and human anguish . . . Powerful, deeply felt, compulsively readable and imbued with moral gravity, the novel does not peter out into easy redemption. It's a harrowing tale: bleak, haunting and often heart-breaking - and not to be missed
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

** 'Gripping, bravura . . . characteristically elegant prose
Sarah Churchwell, GUARDIAN

** 'Chang-rae Lee has created such a tour de force that its images and narrative linger for a long time after reading
BOOKSELLER'S CHOICE

** 'A major achievement, and likely to be remembered as one of this year's best books
KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW