"A beautifully written and gorgeous novel." -Marjan Kamali, New York Times bestselling author of The Lion Women of Tehran
Minbak (n.) a lodging in a private home
Korea, 1985: Hana Park's future is bright. A star student and beloved daughter, she dreams of a life beyond working at her family's local minbak. After a devastating encounter with a foreign guest, Hana sheds her past and flees to London to capture the future she so desperately desires, leaving her heartbroken mother Youngja to pick up the pieces.
London, 2008: When her husband dies unexpectedly in the midst of the global financial crisis, Hana is left with a pile of debt and no way to pay it off. With her teenage daughter Ada and a declining Youngja relying on her, she has no choice but to move her family into one bedroom and open the rest of their home to paying guests as a minbak.
As tragedy brings the three women together, old tensions surface, and the family's long-hidden secrets threaten to erupt. With no one to turn to but each other, Hana, Youngja, and Ada must confront their complex history, crossing continents and generations to find truth, forgiveness, and compassion. ELA LEE's debut novel Jaded was published in 2024, and was an Amazon Best Fiction Book of the Year. Lee has been named a Spotify Breakout Author and has also been selected for Forbes 30 under 30, Class of 2025. A graduate of Oxford and a former lawyer, she lives in London with her partner and their mini Aussie, Bo. Minbak is her second novel.
"A beautifully written and gorgeous novel about motherhood, generational trauma, and the long shadow of a nation's hidden history. Through the intertwined lives of a mother, daughter, and grandmother, this moving story traces how silence shapes fate and how love endures through our choice to forgive each and every day." -Marjan Kamali, New York Times bestselling author of The Lion Women of Tehran
"Minbak is a poignant novel about grief, sacrifice, and motherhood. In tender yet incisive prose, Ela Lee offers us a portrait of the many ways three generations of women fold and shape themselves around the ones they love, the secrets they keep out of a misguided instinct to protect one another, and the love that serves as a throughline despite trauma and heartbreak. It is also an indictment of American imperialist structures, and, most importantly, the economic, sociocultural, and capitalist forces that facilitated the foreign adoptions of hundreds of thousands of Korean children. Lee's story is a gripping one; it makes it impossible for us to look away." -Karissa Chen, bestselling author of Homeseeking
"Minbak is a tender portrayal of women across three generations grappling with memory, intergenerational trauma, and how to love through impossible situations. Against the fascinating backdrop of South Korea's transition to democracy, Ela Lee weaves a poignant family saga not just of seeking a home, but of making a home-whether through the community of a minbak, or through piecing together a fractured family. Minbak will leave you wanting to call your mother and your grandmother in order to understand them just a little more." -Allison King, author of The Phoenix Pencil Company
"Ela Lee's second novel is a beautifully written, intergenerational story about hidden trauma and the mistakes we make when trying to protect the people we love, tying the painful secret of a single family to a broader reckoning with the systematic exploitation of the stigma that women and girls face when deviating from social norms." -Eve Chung, bestselling author of Daughters of Shandong
"Minbak will be a standout book for many people this year, taking on a huge undertaking with apparent ease...Lee writes about migration, motherhood and belonging with a light but emotionally precise touch...cementing the book's status as something truly cathartic." -Cosmopolitan (UK)
"Minbak is a stunning portrayal of love, duty, race, and
