A Gesture Life

Chang-rae Lee’s much-awaited second novel is a haunting, compelling exploration of the Japanese experience of the Second World War, and the fate of their Comfort Women. ‘You make a whole life out of gestures and politeness,’ Sunny tells her adoptive father, Franklin Hata. Born in Korea and raised in Japan, Franklin deflects everyone - even his daughter - with courtesy and impenetrable decorum, becoming a respected elder of his small, prosperous American town. As Sunny tries to unpick her father’s scrupulous self-control, the story he has repressed emerges: his life as a medic in the Japanese army and his love for a woman who is a soldier’s chattel. The tragic tension between Franklin’s need to communicate the horror which has shaped his life, and the guilt which has kept him silent are at the heart of this unforgettable work of humane understanding.

‘Stunning … It’s a beautiful, solitary, remarkably tender book.’ Andrew O'Hagan

‘A wonderful mixture of Richard Ford and Kazuo Ishiguro.’ New Yorker ‘Superb. Stirring and impressive; the work of a very fine writer indeed.’ John Preston, Daily Telegraph

‘A writer of immense subtlety and craft.’ Maya Jaggi, Guardian

‘A slow, brooding, memorable work of fiction.’ Joyce Carol Oates

‘Pleasing, illuminatingly fresh.subtle and delicious.’ Independent

‘Beautifully written.a work of astonishing psychological acuity and compassion.’ Lizzie Buchan, The Times