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Happiness Falls: A GMA Book Club Pick

by Angie Kim

A disappearance that reshapes a family’s questions

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    New American Voices Award Finalist

    Finalist for the New American Voices Award.

  • Bestseller

    New York Times bestseller

    Described in the supplied metadata as a New York Times bestseller.

  • Book club selection

    Good Morning America Book Club Pick

    Selected as a Good Morning America Book Club pick.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A disappearance that reshapes a family’s questions

When a father vanishes during a walk with his son, the search hinges on what the family can learn from the only witness, Eugene, who has Angelman syndrome and cannot speak. His sister Mia’s analytical approach meets the uncertainty of a case that reaches beyond locating their father: the family must reconsider what they know about one another and what communication can reveal. Set within a biracial Korean American family in Virginia, the novel brings a missing-person mystery together with family relationships and questions of language, love, and human connection.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers interested in family-centered missing-person mysteries.
  • For readers drawn to stories about communication, language, and human connection.
  • For readers seeking fiction focused on a Korean American family and family relationships.

Themes

Family and secretsCommunication and languageLove and human connectionMissing-person investigation

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK - When a father goes missing, his family's desperate search leads them to question everything they know about him and one another in this thrilling page-turner, a deeply moving portrait of a family in crisis from the award-winning author of Miracle Creek.

OPRAH DAILY'S #1 NOVEL OF THE YEAR - ONE OF PEOPLE'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - A WASHINGTON POST, BOOKPAGE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, NEW YORK POST, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, BOOK RIOT, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY, REAL SIMPLE, CRIMEREADS, AND SHE READSBEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Belletrist Book Club Pick -
Finalist for the New American Voices Award - Finalist for the Virginia Literary Award - "This is a story with so many twists and turns I was riveted through the last page."--Jodi Picoult

"A brilliant, satisfying, compassionate mystery that is as much about language and storytelling as it is about a missing father. I loved this book."--Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

"I fell in love with the fascinating, brilliant family at the center of this riveting book."--Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful


"We didn't call the police right away." Those are the electric first words of this extraordinary novel about a biracial Korean American family in Virginia whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing.

Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything--which is why she isn't initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don't return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia's brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak.

What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance. Full of shocking twists and fascinating questions of love, language, and human connection, Happiness Falls is a mystery, a family drama, and a novel of profound philosophical inquiry. With all the powerful storytelling she brought to her award-winning debut, Miracle Creek, Angie Kim turns the missing-person story into something wholly original, creating an indelible tale of a family who must go to remarkable lengths to truly understand one another.
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