On Tuesday, December 3, at 5:00 PM, we're excited to host an in-person author talk at Atherton Library with Margaret Juhae Lee, author of Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History.
All San Mateo County Libraries locations will have free giveaway copies of Starry Field available on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, the first 50 event attendees will receive a free copy of the book!
About the Book
Starry Field is journalist Margaret Juhae Lee's intimate and touching debut, weaving together Margaret's family story against the backdrop of Korea's tumultuous modern history, with a powerful question at its heart: can we ever separate ourselves from our family's past—and if the answer is yes, should we?
Growing up in Houston, Margaret was never told about her grandfather, Lee Chul Ha. His memory was submerged in 1936 Korea, when Lee Chul Ha died a disgraced communist rebel. To his surviving family, he was a criminal. As an act of unearthing her own identity, Margaret needed to understand why and began investigating her grandfather's story. She discovered an extraordinary young man—a student revolutionary imprisoned for protesting the Japanese government's colonization of Korea, and a hero eventually honored as a Patriot of South Korea almost 60 years after his death.
What Critics and Readers Have to Say
"This reconstruction of the lives of Lee’s paternal grandparents is absorbing as much for what is discovered as for what remains undiscoverable. Almost three quarters of a century ago, on the eve of the invasion of her nation, a mother burned every trace she held of her children’s dead father, explaining to her son, “you never know what will happen: history is the proof.” Starry Field reminds us that even knowing where we came from won’t tell us where we’re going—but it will help along the way." —Susan Choi, Author of Trust Exercise
"With the propulsive force of a mystery, Margaret Juhae Lee guides us through the maze of her family’s lost histories, revealing secrets, shaping narratives, and, as she tracks into the past, pulling her present into sharp focus. Starry Field is a probing, companionable tale about the search for self and home by a fiercely observant, funny, and important writer." —Sabina Murray, Author of Valiant Gentlemen
"A mesmerizing memoir, Margaret Juhae Lee’s Starry Field charts the course of her family’s storied past. With the propulsive narrative of a mystery novel, illuminated by meticulous research and captivating prose, Lee explores the love, loss, and resilience of hidden heritage and familial bonds. Gorgeously written and emotionally resonant, Starry Field is more than a memoir—it’s a celebration of the enduring strength found in unexpected places." —Rose Andersen, Author of The Heart and Other Monsters: A Memoir
Get to Know Margaret Juhae Lee
“To best serve my family’s transcontinental, multi-generational story, I needed the book to read more like a novel than journalism. As an avid fiction reader, I started to read novels in a different way, to see how they are structured, how characters are developed, how to set a scene. Part of the reason it took so long to finish the book is because I had to relearn how to write, and the writing begat more writing, as I struggled to understand what this search for family history really meant. That understanding did not arrive until I had a family and children. This book is for the next generation.”
Margaret Juhae Lee is the author of Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History. A former editor at The Nation magazine, she received a Bunting Fellowship from Harvard University and a Korean Studies Fellowship from the Korea Foundation. Her articles have been published in The Nation, Newsday, Elle, ARTnews, The Rumpus and Writer's Digest. In 2020, she was named “Person of the Year” by the Sangcheol Cultural Welfare Foundation in Kongju, South Korea, for her work in honoring her grandfather, Patriot Lee Chul Ha, with a gift from her family to his alma mater, Kongju High School. She lives in Oakland with her family and Brownie, a rescue dog from Korea.
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