Books: The Foreign Student: Susan Choi

In 1955, at a moment informed by the prejudices born of America's recent "stewardship" of South Korea, they come together in a Tennessee college town: Katherine, a fallen Southern belle, and Chang, a visiting Korean student. Initially, their interwoven stories seem as uncomfortably mismatched as they themselves are. Chang's vivid memories of the Korean War, peppered with brutality and salted with bitterness toward his countrymen and his American mentors, block his ability to envision a future. Katherine too suffers from jolting betrayals that have left her alienated from family and home. But in and through each other, they discover a capacity for solace, forgiveness and renewal. First-time novelist Susan Choi, 29, writes gracefully, insightfully and with striking maturity as she explores the lives of these two outcasts.

--By Jill Smolowe