Stunning!Mun-gyeong, 1935. Choi MiJa is getting ready for her first day at the Elementary Good Citizen School in Japanese Occupied Korea. The Choi family are wealthy landowners and have been for nineteen generations, but all that is about to change. Their privileged lifestyle will soon disappear forever, and burgeoning love is put on hold as the family have to endure the hardship and loss of the Japanese Occupation, the Second World War, and the Korean War.

When peace finally arrives, there is great hope for the future and Korea has a chance to build a fair and just society. Will it succeed?

MiJa is a timeless story that sweeps the reader from the gated town of Mun-gyeong, a mountain pass so high that even the birds cannot fly through it, to the besieged war-torn city of Pusan where they have to live in the shantytown of Ami Dong built from reused gravestones.

Eventually MiJa find herself in the remote fishing port of Mukho on the border with North Korea where she joins the Hae-nyeo: a group of matriarchal fisherwomen.

MiJa is a tale of un-blossomed love and female sacrifice. It describes how a family’s hopes and dreams are crushed by the weight of historical events that still resonate in modern-day Korea.

Wow just amazing. This story is the best I have read in a long time. It was so well written that I was hanging on the authors every word. I really couldn't put this book down. It's definitely been a long time that I have been this invested in a novel and I read a lot of books. This story was so sad, emotional and atmospheric it almost felt like a true story. It's certainly a story about resilience. It really shocked me in places. It is also inspiring, if Mija can get through all life threw at her then so can we. I really can't recommend this book enough. It's a fantastic historical fiction set in South Korea. The story goes through so many changes within the country. Through civil War, occupation, failing crops, school changes, kidnap and death. Its certainly a roller coaster ride. This story will stay with me for a very long time. I know we are only in the end of January and I will probably read another 400 books. But, this book is definitely likely to be book of the year. It will take a lot to knock it off my top spot. I was totally engrossed in this book and read it all in one sitting. The characters were amazing and well developed.
Only the highest of praise goes out to the author and publishing team for creating the most perfect novel. I really hope this author writes more books. I will certainly keep my eyes peeled.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"MiJa is a tale of un-blossomed love and female sacrifice. It describes how a family’s hopes and dreams are crushed by the weight of historical events that still resonate in modern-day Korea."

The story is stuffed full of military historical details and I liked reading about descriptions of clothing, food and MiJa 's village life, obviously well researched. But I think the story lacked depth when it came to the characters themselves.

3☆

Informative and well-researched but lacking in characterisation.

This novel follows the life of Korean girl Mija from her childhood in the 1930s right up to when she is in her fifties and calling herself an old woman. I like this kind of novel so I was excited to get into it, and I did like the early part where Mija was a child. Unfortunately I liked it less as things progressed - I learned a lot of Korean history, which was interesting, but most of the characters felt quite flat including Mija. It was meant to be her story but we didn't spend much time in her head. It was more about what she did or what happened to her, sometimes we were told what she thought but I never felt it emotionally. That was a real shame and made me rate the novel lower.

That's not to say this is a bad book, at all. If you are interested in Korean history or like family sagas it's definitely worth a read. I just personally prefer something like The Evening Hero by Marie Myung-Ok Lee, which had me emotionally invested.

I'd like to thank the publishers, Bookmark Publications Ltd, and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance release copy. All opinions are my own.

DNF - This ended up not being my cup of tea so I am halting my read for now. I might revisit this via a different medium as the story is really interesting!

MiJa is a heartwarming story about a Korean girl's life during Japanese Occupation, the Secong World War and the Korean War era.

I always enjoy reading historical literature from around the world. Korea is one of the most intriguing country to study. This promising book tried to portrayed Korean history through the MiJa's story. I enjoyed the plot although the pace is slower than my preference. I care enough about all the characters and engaging into their stories until the end. The writing and editing still open for improvement.
Overall I enjoyed my read and this book worth to try when you like HF book as me.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookmark Publication Ltd for provided my copy. My opinions and thoughts always my own.

I enjoyed reading about the Korean War era and the journey of MiJa's life. The book's pace didn't flow at the speed that I enjoy. More description of scenery and MiJa's feelings would have made the book more enjoyable.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I see what the author is trying to do; he's tracing the modern history of Korea through his story of one family. But his research is not always accurate and the editing is so far incomplete; I'm finding way too many mistakes.
I think the book is promising because I loved following the story. But informed readers are going to be cringing. The author needs to google what year water beds were invented and then make some corrections, just for example.
Author, please put it in the hands of a good editor!

I enjoyed this novel very much! A fascinating story about a country I hardly know anything about!
I felt though that the novel could have been longer. Some parts could have been dealt with in greater detail, and more depth would have been welcome. A few coincidences occuring in the characters ' story did not feel realistic to me.
A good historical research has added a lot to my enjoying this novel.

I found this book disappointing. I was excited to learn about Korea in the 20th century but struggled to enjoy the narrative. The multiple perspectives meant that the characters were not fully developed and that many important plot points such as the brother‘s fate, were rushed, in an effort to tie up all the loose ends. I also thought a lot of the British phrases, such as “peckish,” “cuppa” and “penny for your thoughts” sounded out of place in a novel about Korea. It made the text very stilted. Most of all, I objected to how the book relayed the experiences of the comfort women. I’m not an expert on this topic but do know a lot about sexual violence in general, and know that many survivors struggle to recount their stories, due to trauma and to fear of not being believed. The fact that one of the characters was able to do so when severely ill and just after meeting a complete stranger was very unrealistic and made it hard for me to believe the rest of the narrative.