The Noh Family
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
This sparkling K-drama inspired debut novel introduces irrepressibly charming teen Chloe Chang, who is reunited with her deceased father's estranged family via a DNA test, and is soon whisked off to Seoul to join them...
When her friends gift her a 23-and-Me test as a gag, high school senior Chloe Chang doesn’t think much of trying it out. She doesn’t believe anything will come of it—she’s an only child, her mother is an orphan, and her father died in Seoul before she was even born, and before her mother moved to Oklahoma. It’s been just Chloe and her mom her whole life. But the DNA test reveals something Chloe never expected—she’s got a whole extended family from her father’s side half a world away in Korea.
Turns out her father's family are amongst the richest families in Seoul and want to meet Chloe. So, despite her mother's reservations, Chloe travels to Seoul and is whisked into the lap of luxury . . . but something feels wrong. Soon Chloe will discover the reason why her mother never told her about her dad’s family, and why the Nohs wanted her in Seoul in the first place. Could joining the Noh family be worse than having no family at all?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After a DNA test uncovers a paternal family she never knew existed, 18-year-old Chloe Chang becomes immersed in a world of South Korean privilege in Shim's operatic debut. Chloe has always dreamed of studying fashion in New York City, but after her father's death, her mother's salary is barely enough for them to get by. When she learns that her father—who she assumed had no relations—has family living in Seoul, Chloe takes off to meet them. The affluent Noh family are essentially South Korean royalty, a far cry from Chloe's modest Oklahoma relatives. With the help of a new friend and the Noh's dreamy personal assistant, Chloe dives into their world of glamour and secrets. But class differences and Chloe's unfamiliarity with Korean culture make her feel like she doesn't belong, and she's left wondering, "if my life is a real live K-drama... why does it feel worse than it looks on screen?" Shim deftly employs all the whirlwind romance and jaw-dropping reveals of classic K-dramas via breezy prose and vividly drawn settings to explore classism, heartbreak, identity, and manipulation amid familial and societal expectations in this enticing debut. Ages 12–up.
