1--What is the title of your latest release?
WHITE MULBERRY
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Inspired by the life of my grandmother, White Mulberry is a rich, deeply moving portrait of a young Korean woman in 1930s Japan who is torn between two worlds and must reclaim her true identity to provide a future for her family.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
My grandmother lived in northern Korea, Kyoto, and Osaka, Japan so those became the locations for my book.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes! She was a woman before her time, and I wanted her resilience and strength to rub off on me.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Spirited, Brave, Resourceful
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that we don’t know what we’re capable of if we don’t try.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I love editing as I go, but usually after I write a complete chapter. I make sure that the plot, character, and stakes are always moving forward.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I love potato chips!
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I converted my son’s bedroom into an office after he went off to college. I use his old desk, which used to be my husband’s, for writing. I love a room with a view, and I can see a beautiful magnolia tree outside my window.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Maxine Hong Kingston. Her memoir The Woman Warrior was the first book I read where I saw myself in a book and realized I could have a voice.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. It’s about an Irish girl coming of age in Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th century, and her pursuit of an education to overcome barriers inspired the title and an important theme of my book.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was walking in Central Park in NYC with my husband when I got “the call” from my agent. She told me she had “good news,” and that Lake Union had made me an offer! I stopped in my tracks and gave my husband a high five! We celebrated later that night with champagne!
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Historical Fiction
14--What’s your favorite movie?
It’s a Wonderful Life
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I love to go to a new restaurant with my husband. If it’s a special milestone birthday, like my recent 60th, I like to have a party and celebrate with my friends and family.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I really liked the book Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I didn’t think I would love a book about computer games, but the author opened my eyes to the gaming world and the individuals who make them. I understand the younger generation a little better now too!
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Korean food is my comfort food.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Curl up on my couch and read!
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I am working on a draft of Red Seal, the sequel to WHITE MULBERRY. I have a two-book deal with my publisher, and the next book is due August of 2025. I better get going!
A Novel
A rich, deeply moving portrait of a young Korean woman in 1930s Japan who is torn between two worlds and must reclaim her true identity to provide a future for her family.
1928, Japan-occupied Korea. Eleven-year-old Miyoung has dreams too big for her tiny farming village near Pyongyang: to become a teacher, to avoid an arranged marriage, to write her own future. When she is offered the chance to live with her older sister in Japan and continue her education, she is elated, even though it means leaving her sick mother—and her very name—behind.
In Kyoto, anti-Korean sentiment is rising every day, and Miyoung quickly realizes she must pass as Japanese if she expects to survive. Her Japanese name, Miyoko, helps her find a new calling as a nurse, but as the years go by, she fears that her true self is slipping away. She seeks solace in a Korean church group and, within it, finds something she never expected: a romance with an activist that reignites her sense of purpose and gives her a cherished son.
As war looms on a new front and Miyoung feels the constraints of her adopted home tighten, she is faced with a choice that will change her life—and the lives of those she loves—forever.
Women's Fiction Family Life [Lake Union Publishing, On Sale: December 3, 2024, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662519697 / ]
Rosa Kwon Easton was born in Seoul, Korea, and grew up with her extended family in Los Angeles. Easton holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College, a master’s in international and public affairs from Columbia University, and a JD from Boston College Law School. She is a lawyer and an elected trustee of the Palos Verdes Library District. She has two adult children and lives with her husband and Maltipoo in sunny Southern California.
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