Author Talk: Eve J. Chung, "The Young Will Remember"

Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore welcome author Eve J. Chung, who will discuss her new book, The Young Will Remember.  Chung's debut novel is the popular book group read, Daughters of Shandong.  

Chung’s decision to write her second novel on the Korean War was sparked after learning that her husband’s grandfather was a Baptist pastor who fled Communist North Korea. Chung wondered: what about those who stayed? So was borne the Pak family and their complicated relationship with American correspondent Ellie Chang.

Chung is a human-rights lawyer and has worked on the ground in multiple international conflict zones. These personal encounters with suffering, especially women’s suffering, are imprinted on the heart of her second novel. 

About the Book

1950. It’s the coldest winter in decades, and twenty-eight-year-old Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight to cover a battle in the mountains of North Korea when her plane is shot down.

As she emerges from the fallen aircraft onto an icy field surrounded by the enemy, Ellie is sure it’s the end, certain she’ll never make it home to her parents…until a woman pushes her way through the crowd and claims Ellie as the lost daughter that she’s been searching for since the last war ended. Never mind that Ellie doesn’t speak a word of Korean.

Ellie is taken in by her rescuer—a woman who calls herself “Emma”—and the Paks, a pastor’s family. She knows she can’t stay and yet there’s no way she’ll survive on her own.

As the war intensifies, the sky alighting with bombs overhead, Ellie convinces Emma and the Paks to travel south towards an elusive promise of safety, and where Ellie insists they are more likely to find Emma’s real daughter, stuck on the other side of the frontlines.

Emma’s decision to claim Ellie, and Ellie’s choice to take her hand will connect their lives forever.

About the Author

Eve J. Chung is a Taiwanese American lawyer and women’s human rights specialist. She has worked on a range of issues, including torture, sexual violence, contemporary forms of slavery, and discriminatory legislation. Her writing is inspired by social justice movements, and the continued struggle for equality and fundamental freedoms worldwide. Her first book, Daughters of Shandong, was an instant USA Today bestseller, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and Good Morning America buzz pick. The Young Will Remember is Chung's second novel. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two children, and two dogs.