White Mulberry
A Novel
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White Mulberry
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Narrated by:
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Michelle H. Lee
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By:
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Rosa Kwon Easton
About this listen
“A beautiful and deeply researched novel…If you loved Pachinko, you’ll love White Mulberry.” —Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of The Island of Sea Women
Inspired by the life of Easton’s grandmother, White Mulberry is a rich, deeply moving portrait of a young Korean woman in 1930s Japan who is torn between two worlds and must reclaim her true identity to provide a future for her family.
1928, Japan-occupied Korea. Eleven-year-old Miyoung has dreams too big for her tiny farming village near Pyongyang: to become a teacher, to avoid an arranged marriage, to write her own future. When she is offered the chance to live with her older sister in Japan and continue her education, she is elated, even though it means leaving her sick mother—and her very name—behind.
In Kyoto, anti-Korean sentiment is rising every day, and Miyoung quickly realizes she must pass as Japanese if she expects to survive. Her Japanese name, Miyoko, helps her find a new calling as a nurse, but as the years go by, she fears that her true self is slipping away. She seeks solace in a Korean church group and, within it, finds something she never expected: a romance with an activist that reignites her sense of purpose and gives her a cherished son.
As war looms on a new front and Miyoung feels the constraints of her adopted home tighten, she is faced with a choice that will change her life—and the lives of those she loves—forever.
©2024 Rosa Kwon Easton (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
“Narrator Michelle Lee transports listeners with this historical debut based on the life of the author's grandmother.… Lee's measured yet fluent delivery effectively depicts the well-researched political and social climate of that era. [T]his is an engaging listening experience.”—AudioFile Magazine
“In straightforward prose, Easton novelizes events that will compel readers seeking themes of identity, ‘passing’ in a different culture, immigration, and occupation.”—Booklist
“This is a unique historical novel with many well-knit threads.”—Historical Novels Review
What listeners say about White Mulberry
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Crimson Whispers VA
- 18-03-25
such a heart touching story (based on a true story)
Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this book
I think this is a beautiful bit also a heartbroken story at the same time about time In the 1930s, under Japanese colonial rule, Koreans faced severe oppression, including the suppression of their language and culture, forced labour, and economic exploitation, with many Koreans forced to take Japanese names and work in harsh conditions.
This is a well-researched book that I highly enjoyed reading seeing through the eyes of the main character the hardships and also the life she had to live, trying to follow her dreams of higher education to become a teacher herself, but finding out the things are much harder then she could imagine being fed a lie that japan had more opportunities for a woman such as herself then Korea did. 13-year-old Miyoung is forced to leave her home in Pyongyang due to being offered up for an arranged marriage but once she is in Kyoto she sees that things are not as she has been led to believe, coming to know that even her heritage and who she is, is in danger and having to change her name (identity) to fit into the society she is now apart of & with this feeling that she is losing herself piece by piece
Seeing this descent into loneliness and despair had me feeling for the character as well as becoming a book I couldn't put down, being intrigued to see what happens with her as the story continues where she seems to find happiness but it comes at a cost which she does bravely and also shows the strength she needed to handle it ... but during this time she has a child, marries the love of her life with a family who doesn't appreciate nor want her and when her husband passes away she tries to earn money to be able to take her child and give him the future her and her husband wanted but facing so much to try and achieve it.
I felt the love and struggle as a mother that she went through trying to do what she thought was best and taking a life-threatening chance to go home to Korea with her son, away from a family that encouraged the distance rather than helped foster it between her and her son.
I definitely will watch out for this author to read more of her work
4.5 stars
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