In his summer fiction preview, book blogger Bill Wolfe (Read Her Like An Open Book) calls Shining Sea one of the fourteen books coming out in July and August that readers won’t want to miss. “[Korkeakivi] writes beautifully and with compassion and insight into the relationships and events that shape our lives.” To read…(Read More)
A Free Life
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Ha Jin, who left China for the United States in his late twenties, is easily one of my favorite contemporary writers. A Free Life, published in 2007 and his first novel set in America, follows a Chinese poet in graduate school in Boston and his family, as they struggle to make a permanent home for…(Read More)
Brooklyn
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How lovely this quiet, feeling novel by Colm Tóibín, published in 2009 and listed for many major prizes, about a young Irish emigrée from a jobless Ireland in the 1950s to an exciting but more complex life in the U.S. And how perceptive in its exploration of torn allegiances and the…(Read More)
My Ántonia
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Willa Cather’s 1918 chronicle of the relationship between an orphaned youth from Virginia and the spirited, bright-eyed daughter of Bohemian immigrants in Nebraska towards the end of the 19th century has always occupied a special place in my heart. I am myself the descendant of Bohemian (Czech) pioneers in Nebraska. But, really, everything…(Read More)
Harper’s Bazaar says Shining Sea will be “One of the 12 Summer Books Everyone Will Be Talking About”! For the full review, please see here…(Read More)
Word is in from Kirkus Reviews, and it’s good: “A panoramic novel tracing generations of the Gannon family [that] illuminates the aftershocks of war in the 20th century…. The effortless prose and vining plot make for a winsome tale of kinship and growth. Endearing characters carry a sinuous story of family bonds.” I won…(Read More)
Hello world!
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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing…(Read More)
Goodreads
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Shining Sea has received its first Goodreads review, from someone who received an ARC (advanced reading copy): “Loved, loved, loved this book that traces the lives of a SoCal family over three generations and how war affected them all, either directly or indirectly. Korkeakivi has a gift for exquisite prose, a unique voice, and a…(Read More)
The publishing date for Shining Sea is August 9, but advanced reading copies have begun going out to book critics, booksellers, and book event organizers. Anyone falling within that category who’d like a copy, please drop a line…(Read More)
If you look around this website, you’ll find a new tab up top, between “Home” and “An Unexpected Guest.” It’s for the new page for Shining Sea, with advance reviews, pre-order buttons, and a brief excerpt. Or else you could just look here. Isn’t it lovely? Eventually, the whole website will…(Read More)