What We Kept to Ourselves: A Novel

Written by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Narrated by Jennifer Kim

This timely and surprising novel about a family’s search for answers following the disappearance of their mother from the New York Times bestselling author Nancy Jooyoun Kim explores “immigration, identity, love, and loss. A gorgeous, thrilling read” (Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author).

1999: The Kim family is struggling to move on after their mother, Sunny, vanished a year ago. Sixty-one-year-old John Kim feels more isolated from his grown children than ever before. But one evening, their fragile lives are further upended when John finds the body of a stranger in the backyard, carrying a letter to Sunny, leaving the family with more questions than ever.

1977: Sunny is pregnant and has just moved to Los Angeles from Korea with her aloof and often-absent husband. America is not turning out the way she had dreamed it to be, and the loneliness and isolation are broken only by a fateful encounter at a bus stop. The unexpected connection spans the decades and echoes into the family’s lives in the present as they uncover devastating secrets that put not only everything they thought they knew about their mother but their very lives at risk.

Both “an intricately crafted mystery and a heart-wrenching family saga” (Michelle Min Sterling, New York Times bestselling author), What We Kept to Ourselves masterfully explores what it means to dream in America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797164960

Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Nancy Jooyoun Kim is the New York Times bestselling author of What We Kept to Ourselves and The Last Story of Mina Lee, a Reese’s Book Club pick. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Reviews for What We Kept to Ourselves

[TeeTee Gee · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Very underwhelming. But maybe it’s the culture barrier/difference. Don’t know

[Melissa Samal · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I don't even know how I got through this book. It felt like so much happened but there was so little thrills about it all. I kept on waiting for something to excite me but it didn't.
Sometimes I was unsure which character was talking as there were no pauses in between chapters or paragraphs.
And I don't know how many times you can use the word Downy in one book...

[jojoebi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written, an intriguing story with multiple twists. An unexpected friendship woven through different cultures, backgrounds and experiences. I couldn’t put it down.