About the Book (from the publisher): Abby Rodier was a “drop-box baby,” a Korean orphan whose mother could not take care of her and left her as an infant. Abby’s tumultuous experience in the American foster care system has led her to live a solitary and guarded life, closed off to almost everyone except her best friend Iseul, whose parents took Abby into their home as a child.
Abby’s work studying the origins of life in sea slugs and bacteria leads her to wonder about her birth parents and question her place in this world. It’s not long before Abby stumbles upon a biological discovery that will change the course of her life. Meanwhile, Iseul’s devotion to their ill brother leads to an entanglement between her work as an investigative journalist and the murky world of black-market medicine.
After a tragic event, Abby’s life is thrown into a tailspin. With the rug pulled from under her feet, she spirals into a disorientation of grief, apparitions, and compulsions. With the help of those around her, Abby must embark on a journey to understand her true roots and make peace with her present.
About the Author: Janie Kim grew up in San Diego, California, and studied molecular biology at Princeton University, went on a Fulbright research grant to Denmark, and is now a biology PhD student at Stanford University. She likes ocean critters that are fun-sized, or, better yet, microscopic (funner-sized).She writes about these and other topics in microbiology for “Small Things Considered.” Her first novel “We Carry the Sea In Our Hands,” was published in July 2024.
About the Moderator: A.M. Homes is a prolific writer who collaborates with visual artists, composers, and filmmakers on projects ranging from full-scale operas to television series to museum exhibitions. The author of 13 books of fiction, nonfiction, and short stories, A.M. won the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her 2013 novel, “May We Be Forgiven,” and her memoir, “The Mistress’s Daughter,” was published to international acclaim. She is a Professor of the Practice in the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts
This event was recorded on September 17, 2024.