Burned By Books

Angie Kim, "Happiness Falls" (Hogarth Press, 2023)


Listen Later

"We didn't call the police right away." Those are the electric first words of this extraordinary novel about a biracial Korean American family in Virginia whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing.

Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything--which is why she isn't initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don't return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia's brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak.

What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance. Full of shocking twists and fascinating questions of love, language, and human connection, Happiness Falls (Hogarth Press, 2023) is a mystery, a family drama, and a novel of profound philosophical inquiry. 

Happiness Falls was an instant New York Times bestseller. Angie’s debut novel, Miracle Creek, won the Edgar Award, the ITW Thriller Award, the Strand Critics’ Award, and the Pinckley Prize and was named one of the hundred best mysteries and thrillers of all time by TimeThe Washington PostKirkus, and the Today show. One of Variety Magazine’s inaugural “10 Storytellers to Watch,” Angie has written for The New York Times Book ReviewThe Washington PostVogueGlamour, and numerous literary journals. She lives in northern Virginia with her family.

Recommended Books:

  • Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
  • Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump
  • Daniel Mason, North Woods
  • Hang Kan, Greek Lessons
  • 

    Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Burned By BooksBy New Books Network

    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5

    5

    52 ratings


    More shows like Burned By Books

    View all
    The New Yorker: Fiction by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

    The New Yorker: Fiction

    3,355 Listeners

    The Book Review by The New York Times

    The Book Review

    3,881 Listeners

    Otherppl with Brad Listi by Brad Listi

    Otherppl with Brad Listi

    521 Listeners

    Longform by Longform

    Longform

    1,744 Listeners

    The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker by The New Yorker

    The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

    2,147 Listeners

    Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso by Lemonada Media

    Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

    1,409 Listeners

    Pod Save America by Crooked Media

    Pod Save America

    87,203 Listeners

    The Paris Review by The Paris Review

    The Paris Review

    807 Listeners

    Totally Booked with Zibby by Zibby Owens

    Totally Booked with Zibby

    624 Listeners

    The Shit No One Tells You About Writing by Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

    The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

    779 Listeners

    The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

    The Ezra Klein Show

    16,145 Listeners

    Poured Over by Barnes & Noble

    Poured Over

    299 Listeners

    NPR's Book of the Day by NPR

    NPR's Book of the Day

    638 Listeners

    Writers on Writing by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone

    Writers on Writing

    79 Listeners

    Critics at Large | The New Yorker by The New Yorker

    Critics at Large | The New Yorker

    630 Listeners