In Episode 22, Angie Kim (author of Miracle Creek) talks about how her background influenced her novel and shares her literary mystery recommendations.

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Highlights

• Angie’s journey from trial attorney to novelist.
• How Angie’s own children’s medical problems when they were young inspired the submarine children in Miracle Creek.
• Angie’s child’s real life experience with HBOT treatment (the submarine treatment featured in Miracle Creek) and her real-life experience as the parent of an HBOT patient.
• Why society shames people for expressing dark thoughts about the hard parts of parenting and caregiving.
• How Angie’s own experience immigrating to the U.S. from South Korea as a teen influenced Mary’s character in the book.
• The theme Angie is considering exploring in her second novel…and a teaser for the beginning of her second novel.
• How Angie figures out how her novels will end.
• How Angie found out Miracle Creek was going to be a Book of the Month pick (April).
• Why Angie can’t share a book she didn’t love…which led to a discussion about DNF’ing books.
• What Angie (as an author) thinks of bloggers/podcasters/bookstagrammers publicly sharing books they DNF.
• The original title of Miracle Creek and how/why it got changed after printed ARCs were sent out.

Angie’s (Mostly) Literary Mystery Recommendations

Two OLD Books She Loves

• Mystic River by Dennis Lehane | Buy from Amazon [25:40]
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan | Buy from Amazon [26:27]

Two NEW Books She Loves

• The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo | Buy from Amazon [28:04]
• Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips | Buy from Amazon [29:21]

One Book She Didn’t Love

• A quick discussion on DNF’ing books you don’t like [31:23]

One Upcoming Release She’s Excited About

• Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok (Publication Date: June 4) | Buy from Amazon [34:40]

Other Books Mentioned

• Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [0:49]
• The Winter Sister by Megan Collins | Buy from Amazon [22:01]
• The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [22:01]
• Since We Fellby Dennis Lehane (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [25:51]
• Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan | Buy from Amazon [26:38]
• Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok | Buy from Amazon [34:56]

Other Links

• Sarah’s Book of the Month April Commentary
• “I Felt Like An Incompetent Mother. Then I Learned How Not to Feel So Alone.” – Essay in The Washington Post by Angie Kim
• “With Her Son Suffering from a Mysterious Illness, One Mother Finds Hope in an Experimental Treatment” – Essay in Vogue by Angie Kim
• Angie Kim interview with Ari Shapiro on NPR
• Other essays by Angie Kim
• Book of the Month
• Jordy’s Book Club (#miraclecreekarmy)
• Spring 2019 Book Preview podcast episode
• Liberty Hardy (@franzencomesalive)

About Angie

Author Website | Instagram |Facebook | Twitter | 

Angie moved as a preteen from Seoul, South Korea, to the suburbs of Baltimore. She attended Stanford University and Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, then practiced as a trial lawyer at Williams & Connolly. Her stories have won the GlamourEssay Contest and the Wabash Prize in Fiction, and appeared in numerous publications including Vogue, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Salon, Slate, The Southern Review, Sycamore Review, The Asian American Literary Review, and PANK. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and three sons. Miracle Creek is her first novel.