Meet Frances Park
Recently Published
To learn more about my favorite collection of short stories & essays, visit my Shepherd Page.
Listen to Frances talk about "Finding West Virginia" on West Virginia Talk.
BLUE RICE
DESCRIPTION
By candlelight, an elderly Korean woman relives her years upended by the Korean War, finding love in the rubble, and her acclimation to 1960 America.
Recently widowed Honey, nee Hanhee, is preparing to move out of her Arlington home when the Virginia earthquake of 2011 hits. Subtly, something in her cracks. Four days later, Hurricane Irene strikes, evoking monsoon-swept streets of yore. With the power out, Honey's life of a half-century ago cinematically comes to light: Her months as an unlikely prostitute at Madam Cho's; her secret revolt against her dead parents whose love was in question; a mysterious monk's prediction; her great, sassy Korean friend Kissuni Kim who dreamed of nothing more than 'love-mak-ing'; her kindly American neighbor Emma Church who would guide her to independence; and, above all, her lingering love for her first husband Joe Lipton, a journalist who brought Honey to America, only to desert her.​​​​
BLUE RICE BOOK TRAILER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YdBi42gzRI
EXCERPT:
A person can be the only face you make out on a crowded monsoon-swept street where the post-war sounds are everywhere—babies crying and bicycle bells, taxicabs honking their way through lawless streets—but you hear only your love, the monsoon song. Even in the rain your eyes stay lit like candles. Come, quickly. You want him here, under your umbrella, forever. The mere thought of him, his smell, Old Spice and rain, the kiss coming, is dizzying. Then one day he joins the blur of ragged souls and American GIs, and you can no longer make out his face. It, like the song, is gone.
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PRAISE
“One of the finest writers of our time. Her attention to detail and respect for historical fact are unparalleled. Blue Rice is beautifully done.”
~ Maury Z. Levy, national award-winning writer and journalist
“Author Frances Park cements her status as among the best in Blue Rice, a rare, sumptuous novel whose heroine will break your heart.”
~ R.A. Cramblitt, author of Probably Lives in Tahiti
“Frances Park has penned the perfect immigrant story. What unfolds is an adventure filled with humor, history, heartache, and self-discovery. Blue Rice is a masterpiece.”
~ Scott Saalman, author of Vietnam War Love Story
“Frances Park, arguably a preeminent authority on the Korean American experience, belongs among the best writers in America today. Blue Rice is a story that will not let you go. It’s a page-turner but not so fast: the prose’s phrasing is often so exquisite you’ll stop and repeat passages aloud multiple times.”
~ Wayne Coster Cooper, WritersInTheSpirit
“Magic from another time and place. One of those novels you read when the door to another life you never knew about opens a crack, you peek in, and all you want to do is open the door to see everything. Blue Rice will make you smile and cry, but most of all it will make you stay awake all night reading.”
~ Bill Adler, author of Outwitting Squirrels
“In this moving story of survival, a young woman forced to work in a Seoul brothel in post-war Korea eventually marries an American journalist only to experience the culture shock of a new life in the United States when he grows distant. Blue Rice by renowned author Frances Park is a triumph.”
~ Rick Cooper, lyricist and author of For the Record
“Blue Rice is a beautifully written novel set in mid-century Korea, and the United States. A sublimely detailed tale of resilience and chosen family. I will never forget Hanhee Song.”
~ Megan Wessell, book blogger, A Bookish Affair
My Story
I grew up in an era when the U.S. Census Bureau need only come to my family's house to get a total head count of Koreans in my ‘burb. That reality is often reflected in fourteen books - novels, nonfiction books, award-winning children's books - published in seven languages.
My current novel THE SUMMER MY SISTER IS CLEOPATRA MOON (Heliotrope NYC/Sept 2023) is a revised and streamlined version of a novel that was published in 2000, long before the era of K-Pop and K-Dramas. That said, playing in my mind like vintage footage, I was always hoping that somehow, someday, I could bring the Korean Moon family back to life, sisters Marcy and Cleo cruising around in that yellow Mustang on their way to Taco Town in the summer of '76. Lucky me, the stars fell into place.
Coming soon is my novel BLUE RICE (Vine Leaves Press/June 2024), a timely tale of a young woman from northern Korea who takes what fate deals her following the Korean War, including her acclimation to 1960s America as she senses her journalist husband drifting away from her soon after they hit U.S. soil.
My sister Ginger and I love to write children’s books together, and we’ve earned many dozens of awards. Our latest collaboration is GRANDPA’S SCROLL (Albert Whitman/2023), which gently handles the topic of death with writing via pen pal letters or a poetic scroll. Next is SUKA’S FARM (Albert Whitman/2024), a testament to a young Korean’s boy’s spirit to overcome poverty.
My previous full-length work includes my memoir THAT LONELY SPELL: STORIES OF FAMILY, FRIENDS & LOVE (Heliotrope NYC/2022), composed of twenty-six personal essays. All have appeared in magazines such as O, The Oprah Magazine, The Chicago Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, among others. One story, particularly close to my heart, earned a spot on THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2017 Notable List.
I've been interviewed on 'Good Morning America', CNN, the Diane Rehm Show, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and NPR. (Secret: I'm always more nervous than I look!)
When I'm not in writing mode, I'm at Chocolate Chocolate, a sweet boutique in Washington, DC breaking bonbons with customers. Books + Chocolate = A Dream Life!