Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

A #1 Bestseller and National Book Award Finalist that swept the nation’s most prestigious lists—from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal—Pachinko is the sweeping, unforgettable story you’ll want to press into the hands of everyone you know.

Min Jin Lee’s extraordinary epic follows four generations of a Korean family as they navigate love, sacrifice, and survival in 20th-century Japan. At its heart is Sunja, a fisherman’s daughter who makes an impossible choice when she discovers she’s pregnant by a married man. Her decision to leave Korea and marry a gentle minister sets off a cascade of consequences that will reverberate through decades.

This is historical fiction at its finest—intimate and sprawling, heartbreaking and hopeful. Lee takes us from bustling street markets to university halls to the neon-lit pachinko parlors of Japan’s underworld, where her characters fight against prejudice, poverty, and the indifferent arc of history itself. Each generation grapples with questions of identity, belonging, and what we owe to those who came before us.

Why readers can’t put it down:

• Named a New York Times Notable Book and selected for the PBS NewsHour-New York Times Book Club
• Winner of the Medici Book Club Prize and Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist
• Richly drawn characters who will stay with you long after the final page
• Includes a reading group guide—perfect for book clubs

Whether you’re curled up on a foggy afternoon or seeking your next great read, Pachinko delivers the kind of immersive storytelling that reminds us why we fall in love with books.

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