Comfort Woman -- Nora Okja Keller, Paperback

Possessing a wisdom and maturity rarely found in a first novelist, Korean-American writer Nora Okja Keller tells a heartwrenching and enthralling tale in this, her literary debut. Comfort Woman is the story of Akiko, a Korean refugee of World War II, and Beccah, her daughter by an American missionary. The two women are living on the edge of society--and sanity--in Honolulu, plagued by Akiko's periodic encounters with the spirits of the dead, and by Beccah's struggles to reclaim her mother from her past. Slowly and painfully Akiko reveals her tragic story and the horrifying years she was forced to serve as a "comfort woman" to Japanese soldiers. As Beccah uncovers these truths, she discovers her own strength and the secret of the powers she herself possessed--the precious gifts her mother has given her.

A San Francisco Chronicle bestseller
In 1995, Nora Okja Keller received the Pushcart Prize for "Mother Tongue", a piece that is part of Comfort Woman.

Author: Nora Okja Keller
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 03/01/1998
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.43lbs
Size: 7.76h x 5.10w x 0.66d
ISBN: 9780140263350
Age Range: 18-UP

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 06/21/1998 pg. 32

About the Author
Nora Okja Keller was born in Seoul, Korea, and now lives in Hawaii with her husband and two daughters. She received the Pushcart Prize in 1995 for "Mother Tongue," a piece from her first novel, Comfort Woman, winner of a 1998 American Book Award.