John and Helen Koh and their three children – Bo, DH and Mido – are building new lives in Korea
when they find their worlds upended, first by a terrible betrayal and then by the 1997 Asian financial
crisis. Striving to regain their footing, the Kohs set out to do whatever it takes to provide for their
children’s futures. They leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in California, where new
opportunities open for the Koh children, as the parents, strangers in a strange land, adjust to a difficult existence in which their qualifications mean little. Their way forward is lit by the faith that education will lead the next generation to the success and security that have eluded their parents.

The Kohs, their friends, relatives and even their foes move in and out of each other’s lives as they
navigate love, work, fortune and fulfilment across the years. But with each new sacrifice and fresh
horizon, larger questions begin to open up before them: what are we willing to give up to secure the
happiness of the ones we love? What is the purpose of education? And what is truly important for a
good life?

In American Hagwon, Min Jin Lee has crafted a transcendent, panoramic novel of profound emotional richness, where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions. This is the most
ambitious and extraordinary work yet by one of our greatest novelists.