Inheritance

Jane Park

A young woman returns to the prairies, where she revisits her immigrant childhood and confronts a haunting guilt, in this debut novel by a brilliant new talent.

Anne Kim is a lawyer in New York, her success built on forgetting the past. When her father dies, she returns to Edmonton for the funeral and is shocked to discover he was from North Korea and left his brother behind.

As she reads the undelivered letters her father wrote to his brother about life in Canada, she is transported back to her childhood in the 1980s and 90s. She recalls the struggles her parents faced as immigrants who ran a grocery store in a rural prairie town. Anne and her brother, Charles, felt the weight of their father’s expectations: Anne was driven to excel and overachieve, whereas Charles rebelled, determined to pursue his own dreams. His rebellion created a rift that culminated in a devastating act, irrevocably shattering their family and leaving Anne overwhelmed by an inescapable guilt.

Inheritance explores the immigrant experience, the sacrifices made by both parents and children, and how trauma transfers to the next generation. As Anne journeys to the past, she emerges to finally define life on her own terms, and her story will resonate long after the final page.

Jane Park is a second-generation Korean Canadian writer. She is a MacDowell Fellow, and was a participant in the Banff Centre’s Writing Studio, and Diaspora Dialogues. She was born in Edmonton, Alberta, lived in New York City for over a decade, and now lives in Calgary, Alberta. Currently, she is pursuing an MFA at the University of British Columbia. Inheritance is her debut novel.

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Endorsements & Reviews

"Jane Park's Inheritance is a powerful and gripping novel about a Korean-Canadian woman who returns to her childhood home in racist, small town Alberta, where she is forced to confront the consequences of her complicity in a decades old incident that left her family in tatters." Edward Lee, author of The Laundryman’s Boy

"Brilliantly paced and beautifully told, Inheritance is above all about family and how, despite our best intentions, we so often do damage to the ones we most love. Jane Park’s characters are ones we can all relate to, working their way through a minefield of past traumas and misunderstandings and misplaced expectations in the hopes of reaching, finally, a place of acceptance and healing." Nino Ricci, Governor General Literary Award winner for Lives of the Saints and The Origin of Species

"Inheritance provides a riveting and realistic glimpse into the complex struggles that newcomers face in the process of rebuilding their lives, communities, and sense of self. Jane Park gifts readers with an honest and nuanced protagonist, Anne, who discovers she can only move forward by going back — to her old home, childhood memories, and family secrets. Inheritance is an authentic and layered exploration of identity, sacrifice, and healing. Compelling with an emotional clarity, Park’s debut novel balances heartbreak and hope in a poignant exploration of the realities that come with calling Canada our home." Ann Y.K. Choi, author of All Things Under the Moon and Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety