Ghost of Sangju: A Memoir of Reconciliation

Ghost of Sangju: A Memoir of Reconciliation

By 

Soojung Jo

"I was born in South Korea and named Soojung. I was three years old when I arrived in the US to be adopted by an American family and renamed Raina. At twenty-five I gave birth to the first of three children, and at thirty-three I adopted one more from China. I was thirty-six when I learned the identity of my Korean mother, or omma, and thirty-seven when I learned that my Korean father was her kidnapper and rapist..."

So begins Ghost of Sangju, which takes readers from Soojung's childhood in Kentucky filled with joy, family, friendship--and the loneliness of being marked as an outsider even in her own home--to her return to Korea and the family that lost her. Alternating between humor and heartbreak, she offers a glimpse into a life foreign to most: that of a West Point cadet and her return to South Korea, the country that had once sent her away. Soojung vividly paints a portrait of marriage, parenthood (as both a biological and adoptive mother) and the tumultuous emotions of reuniting, rediscovering, and reestablishing lost familial bonds. Ghost of Sangju is a story of one woman's journey to merge her two selves, and the universal search for self-discovery, identity, and reconciliation.

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