This “sweeping intergenerational saga" tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends (Kirstin Chen)—and fights off a tragic curse that could devastate generations to come. In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come.   Hak Jeonga has always shouldered the burden of upholding the family name. When she sent her daughter-in-law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth, she was simply doing what was needed to preserve the reputations of her loved ones. How could she have known that decades later, this decision would return to haunt her—threatening to tear apart her bond with her beloved son, her relationship with her infuriatingly insolent sisters, and the future of the family she has worked so hard to protect?   Part ghost story and part family epic, The Apology is an incisive tale of sisterhood and diaspora, reaching back to the days of Japanese colonialism and the Korean War, and told through the singular voice of a defiant, funny, and unforgettable centenarian. Paperback includes a Reading Group Guide, Jimin Han's family recipes, and a conversation with the author Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2023 • Shondaland's The Best Books to Read for Summer 2023 •  San Francisco Chronicle 's 17 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Summer •  Publishers Weekly 's Fall 2023 Adult Announcements: Literary Fiction • Goodreads's 88 Upcoming Books the Goodreads Editors Can't Wait to Read •  Los Angeles Times 's 10 Books to Add to Your Reading List in August • Apple Books's Best Books of August " The Apology… is a lovely, caustic and trauma-soaked example of the new literary embrace of actual ghosts."― The Chicago Tribune “Jeonga’s narration is sharp and witty and a touch sly as she describes her present, disembodied state—the in-between, purgatory-like space her consciousness now occupies—as well as the events that led to her death…This is an enthralling multigenerational tale of familial secrets, trauma and healing.”― The New York Times “Han’s narrator is sly, funny, and flawed…[ The Apology is] a satisfying tale with vivid relationships that will keep readers curious about this complex family shaped by war, loyalty, class-consciousness, and love.”― Booklist “Jeonga Cha is a wholly original character…While such a plot could have been the stuff of tragedy, Han mines the material largely for its comic potential. Whether dead or alive, Jeonga is a larger-than-life character, stubborn, judgmental, always active… The Apology is an imaginative work that draws upon traditional Korean Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife to explore the long-term consequences of decisions made under the value system of a different era.”― Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Reputation comes first in this arresting drama about an elderly Korean woman dealing with her past...Brilliantly, we get to see how many of Jeonga’s choices are linked to family secrets and Korea’s cultural history—particularly its occupation by Japan and the war that split the country in two.  The Apology is a life-affirming story about finding family and making amends."― Apple Books  “ The Apology is an uncanny high wire act—arch, tender, mercurial. Jimin Han feels like Iris Murdoch’s heir here, even as this novel came from an artistry that is all her own. This is a story unlike any other of Korea and America, and of a mother’s love—majestic, a deathless avenger, shrewd and wild; an ajumma willing to do anything for her family, including defying death.”― 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 "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 " 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