In a Nutshell: A historical fiction about a young girl from Korea who is sent to Hawaii as a “picture bride” and learns to navigate life in a new land. A good plot but somewhat disconnected writing. Not sure if the emotions were lost in translation. Still, a fairly informative read for those who enjoy this genre.

Plot Preview:
1917. When young Willow is approached by the local matchmaker to become a ‘picture bride’ for a young Korean in Hawaii, she never imagined that the promises would not be entirely truthful. Though sad at leaving her mother and siblings behind, the eighteen-year-old sails for Hawaii with starry dreams in her eyes, along with a few other Korean girls who have also obtained grooms through posted photos. Life in the Hawaiian Korean community isn’t exactly as they envisaged, but with no chance of returning home, Willow has to make the best of her circumstances. The situation isn’t helped by the turbulent political situation in faraway Korea, which makes ripples even across the ocean.
The story is written in three distinct but linear sections, with two of those coming from Willow’s third-person perspective and the third in another character’s first-person perspective.

Bookish Yays:
🏝️ I’ve never read a book with a Korea-Hawaii combo! This was a new part of history to me, and I always enjoy learning more about such hidden aspects of ordinary life in the past. This novel reveals an unseen side of Hawaii, and how Korean and Japanese labourers came to reside there.
🏝️ Another new fact to me was the concept of picture brides, whereby young Korean and Japanese girls were sent off to be married based only on photos sent by prospective grooms all the way across the ocean. How dire must their family situation have been for them to accept such an uncertain fate in an unfamiliar place!
🏝️ The glimpses of Korean culture, customs and beliefs. As authentic as an OwnVoices work can be without going into stereotypes.
🏝️ The details about the socio-political situation in Korea at that time, including the details of life under Japanese rule. The author’s research and knowledge are quite evident. The Hawaiian setting also seems to be captured well.
🏝️ The “found family” type of connection among three of the picture brides. Their friendship and bond through ups and downs keeps the book interesting. Among other characters, I liked the portrayal of Willow’s husband and her father-in-law. Both turned out to be not like what I would have expected.
🏝️ The author’s note and the translator’s note reveal several key insights that helped me appreciate the historical aspects better.

Bookish Mixed Bags:
🍍 Willow as a character is brilliant. She is witness to so many complex situations that through her, it is almost like we are learning about many events from the past. However, Willow as a protagonist is quite bland. It is tough to connect to her, even though she is a brave and courageous character worthy of this book. Basically, this problem is not of character development but of protagonist development – we needed more intensity in the main narrator’s depiction.
🍍 I am not sure if the translation failed the book or if the book itself is somewhat dry, but many scenes that should have been hardhitting ended up almost lacklustre.
🍍 The story is divided in three distinct sections. The first is easily my favourite as it provides a proper background to Willow’s situation and her life in Korea and Hawaii. The second section continues the Hawaii segment but it is very different from the first in tone and content, ending up too political for my liking. I don’t mind political content, but it seems to be written in textbook-style at times in this novel. As such, some of the scenes felt somewhat dry and boring. This might not bother those who love learning about international politics. The third section is in the Nays column.


Bookish Nays:
🥥 The third-person narrative keeps Willow very distant. A major chunk of her arc is about reporting events. The challenges are present of course, but on the whole, the tougher life developments happen to those around her than to her. Even when Willow is directly affected by some event, her emotions are written in an aloof manner.
🥥 Willow’s two picture-bride friends have more troublesome marriages so it would have been great to have this novel as a narrative from all three of their perspectives. Compared to what they go through, Willow’s life seems like an ordinary tale than a dramatic one.
🥥 The writing is too convenient and easy-going at times. Characters turn up at Willow’s doorstep exactly and only when they are needed for the plot. Tough scenes that might have potential conflict or intense emotional display are glossed over quickly so as to continue the journalistic reporting. For such a plot, such a writing style didn’t make sense.
🥥 Time clues aren't provided often, which is a big issue in a novel that spans such a large timespan, going all the way from one World War to another. This might not bother those who go with the flow without really bothering about the nitty-gritty of the passage of fictional time.
🥥 The final section, taking place a huge time jump later, suddenly switches to a new character and to a first-person POV. Considering how we see the story from Willow’s perspective until that point, this sudden shift in narrative feels jarring, all the more as the tone doesn’t match the character in age. This entire section seems to be mainly an infodump about what happened in the interim eighteen-year-period, with a couple of surprises thrown in just for the sake of it. The writing style is again more like reporting than like a personal narration. Overall, this section just didn’t gel with the rest of the book in tone, theme, or flow.

All in all, I liked the book enough but I wasn't as captivated by it as I usually am by historical fiction. I expected to be far more affected by this powerful story than I actually was, but the story itself kept emotions away so I too couldn’t feel much. The downward slide over the three sections also didn’t help me much. Regardless, the book still deserves appreciation for shedding light on an unusual part of world history.
Recommended to those who aren’t too particular about writing styles and would enjoy a somewhat understated historical story with strong political overtones in the second half. The first section was the best for me, earning 4 stars. The second and the third weren’t that appealing to me, earning 2.5 stars and 2 stars respectively.

2.8 stars, averaged from the sectional ratings.

My thanks to Scribe UK for providing the DRC of “The Picture Bride” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This book offers a swift yet captivating exploration of a fascinating historical moment. Set in 1918, it chronicles the experiences of Korean women immigrating to Hawaii as picture brides—a concept I was entirely unfamiliar with before reading this. It’s always refreshing when an author uncovers a forgotten piece of history and breathes new life into it. However, while the story itself is intriguing, I felt it lacked depth at times. The characters were compelling, but I believe a richer exploration of their personalities would have drawn the reader in more fully. I found the conclusion, told from Pearl's perspective, to be the most impactful part of the narrative.

Willow and her close friend Hongju are promised a bright future in Hawaii, where they will become picture brides. As they journey to the islands, they form strong bonds with the other women on the ship, friendships that will endure. They’ve been led to believe that Hawaii offers a paradise—where food and clothing grow on trees, money can be gathered effortlessly, and an 18-year-old girl can attend school, which is Willow’s dream. Unfortunately, the reality is far from the fantasy they were sold. Despite this, the story remains a powerful one, with historical events that feel grounded and believable.

This is a good book. The authors writing style was a lot of telling rather than showing. This is a story about friendship and family. The ending was a bit of a surprise

This was a fascinating book in terms of the history it packed into its pages. Imagining the situation made me wonder how people managed to trust anything in those times.
I have read another book that had women from the Netherlands make their way to Batvia as brides for the men there, and although I did not enjoy the book as a whole, I learned a lot from it. This was no different.
We meet our central protagonist as she is informed of the concept of being a picture bride by a travelling saleswoman. Given the complex political situation at the time (not that it has changed too much in the years since if general news is to be believed), many young women wanted an out, and Hawaii seemed like a perfect point to enter the United States.
There are two other Korean women whose lives are intertwined here. All three set off on this journey for different reasons and are met with different fates. It is tough going for everyone at some point. I learnt about the different political ideologies of the Koreans at the time and how volatile it all must have been.
The translation of the dialogue itself was smooth, but I think I was not a fan of the time the story took to move along.
I would recommend this book for the setting and the context.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

The Picture Bride was a very interesting read, however it invoked a lot of mixed feelings from me. I felt very little connection with the characters and I think this is just not the genre for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

If you greatly enjoyed Pachinko, then I think you are well-suited to pick up this title. The Picture Bride chronicles the lives and stories of just that, picture brides, or Korean women trying a chance at fortune and having better lives by having their marriages arranged with men from Korean communities overseas. This was an interesting book about a topic and section of history that I did not know much about, and I couldn't help but feel and root for the characters. It's a well-researched novel and you can see it in the details the author sprinkles throughout the pages. It's a powerful story that can definitely leave a mark on you.

This was a really interesting look at a practice and a period of time (mostly set in Hawaii after WW2) which I knew very little about and chronicles well the experiences of what we would now call "mail-order bribes' as well as the general experiences of korean immigrants and korean women in a foreign country and how they make choices and try to create a life for themselves with the hand they have been dealt.

Much like MinJin Lee's Pachinko I found this a slow read as I found the writing quite heavy and dense but I am glad I read this as it reveals part of history I think many, especially in the western half of the world, will not know about.

This book was definitely fascinating, and it was lovely to read about a familiar historical period in a country whose history I'm largely unfamiliar with. I knew going into it that translations generally don't tend to wow me, as the focus is more on accuracy and flow than on lyricism and aesthetics, but I did still find it a little dry, which made it hard to get through. As well as this, although things like multiple perspectives and time skips are something I'm used to as I read a lot of literary fiction, it was at times a little jarring. Would definitely still recommend the book as it is theme- and plot-wise unlike anything I've personally read before, but it was still a little underwhelming.

The Picture Bride is Lee Geum-Yi's first novel being translated from Korean to English by translator An Seon Jae. It follows the story of three Korean women, Willow, Hongju, and Songwha, who, desperate to live true love or escape from a reality too hard to bear, decide to become picture brides. With the help of the Pusan Ajimae, they receive photos of husbands-to-take from Hawai'i and, in exchange, send one of them each. In doing so, they find their match and embark on a long journey to Hawai'i to meet their husbands. But there, their dreams of love and a life full of knowledge collapse: Hongju discovers she is about to marry a man twenty years her oldest, Songwha finds out hers is her grandpa's age, and Willow meets with a man who looks exactly like his picture. Where things should be easier for her, they aren't, for Taewan might be young and handsome, but he shows Willow no affection. Willow knows that she'll have to conquer his heart, no matter the price.

The Picture Bride was on the anticipated readings of my East-Asian translated fiction list, so I was over the moon being allowed to access this eARC, even more, when I was offered a spot on the blog tour.

This really was an interesting story; I had no knowledge in the concept of picture brides before starting this book, so it felt like I was offered the opportunity to explore a part of history that, for many of us Westerners, was buried deep in the shadows. Especially when it comes to speaking about Asian American immigrants and heritage! I liked that the story develops throughout three generations of women: at the beginning, while we are given insights into Willow's life, we also got to observe her mother's life and the hardships she encountered and faced as a widow who had to make ends meet for the sake of her children. This, I think, was an important part of understanding Willow's mentality toward her own children, more particularly near the end of the novel. The reactions and decisions each woman/mother was making really echoed that of those before them, and eventually the whole novel unfolded as a dialogue between those generations.

I don't want to spoil my readers by broaching topics happening in the fifty-last pages of TPB, but this third and last part was, to me, perhaps the most significant in the book because it pinpointed specifically what it meant for those families and women who immigrated to another country. What I found even more fascinating was that those decisions impacted the development of those characters. That would be very interesting to re-read the book knowing where the story goes and focus on how these women evolve. The story timeline spreads over more than twenty years, so it goes without saying that these mothers change, physically and mentally, after enduring all the difficulties of immigration and war.

I liked to learn about Korean politics, and what it meant to be on Syngman Rhee's side or that of Yongman Park; it was also new to me how Korean people were so divided at this time. Generally, it surprised me how representative of politics, Korean politics, this novel was, and for this only reason, I would urge people who'd like to learn more about Korea/Choseon to take the time to read this book. There are many historical insights given that, to me personally, were more understandable because they were depicted inside a storyline.

I appreciated a lot An Seon Jae's translation, as well as the translation choices he made and explained in his afterword. Being interested in translation, I thought this short afterword riveting and very explicative of the original text. However, it did frustrate me that I don't speak Korean; it feels like we're missing maybe a crucial part of the story. I am grateful to An Seon Jae for giving explanations on that.

On the whole, I will definitely recommend this book to my fellow Korean literature lovers, because I really really enjoyed it. Many thanks to Scribe and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance and review it. It was a pleasure!

The Picture Bride follows Willow - a teenager - as she leaves Korea to make a new life in Hawaii following a blind arranged marriage. Upon arriving, their gilded ideas of life in Hawaii are destroyed, starting with it being revealed several of the husbands lied in the photos and letters that they’d previously sent. From this point, the novel begins to focus on the friendship of the three main characters and their relationships with other women in their communities, as they attempt to make the most of their new lives.

The novel consists of three parts: the women travelling to Hawaii, making a life there, and (briefly) from the perspective of Willow’s daughter. Various parts of the novel were vaguely educational, such as the treatment of Asian workers and the varying perspectives of Hawaiian Koreans regarding the politics of the Korean peninsula during this period. However, Willow, as a protagonist, was bland, the characters were one-dimensional, and the plot didn’t manage to convey the emotions it seemed to want to; all round leaving it an unengaging read. At its core it’s a story about the power of friendship, but not one of the friendships seemed believable or had any discernible emotional depth.

Lastly, I had some issues with the translation; with some words being left in Korean without an explanation for those who don’t speak the language, and others being inexplicably translated - the main example being Willow’s name.

First of all, I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The book tells the story of three young poor Korean women, who came to Hawai'i in the 1920s as part of a common practice at the time called "picture brides" (for all intents and purposes - the then mail order brides). The novel is neither sad nor happy, and describes how the lives of these three young women develop in this new environment, how their hopes are shattered and built, how their fortunes change, and how they build new lives despite huge challenges and difficulties in America, creating a new reality for their many children. It also tells the story of how a new community can be built, and how America, at the time, despite many issues, still created an environment where hard work and dedication allowed new lives to be built. It is also a book about hope.

I really liked it overall. It was a great introduction to a world and a topic I never realised existed. The book felt well researched, and did a great job conveying the atmosphere of the times. I also found the fact that it wasn't overly dramaticised or overly politicised good. It really is a well told story of a historical phenomenon through the lens of the lives of a few individuals. The characters themselves also felt complete and well rounded, with credible and humble hopes, dreams, concerns, and aspirations. Some echoes of Wild Swans (and to a lesser extent Pachinko and the Joy Luck Club).

I must say the only thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 star review is the fact that the storytelling was a bit too dry and telegraphic. At times it read like a non fiction historical account, vs a fictionalised narrative. While nothing wrong with that per se, I personally found the style a bit tiresome.

Overall, highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in East Asian 20th century history, and likes family sagas. Folks who liked Wild Swans and Pachinko will love this book as well.

The picture Bride follows the story of Willow, who came from Korea to Hawaii to marry a man she had never met in order to support her family back in Korea and have a better life for herself. This book talks about the issues which the picture brides faced and also the war for independence back in Korea from the Japanese.

It was okay,however the book felt like a history lesson and it was a real slog to get through at times. This book would be good for people interested in Korea and also around the history of the Picture brides

This is the story of three young Korean women who go to Hawaii to seek better lives as 'picture brides'. A matchmaker has shown them photographs of a future bridegroom in Hawaii, and they travel there to meet them and make new lives at the end of the First World War. However, Korea is going through a period of political turmoil and Koreans are not welcomed all across the island, and some families are partitioned depending who they support back home.

Willow is quite a submissive character, wanting to please her new husband and his family, very concerned that she does the right thing and follows Korean customs. Her friends are very different. The story is in three parts, as she travels to Hawaii and meets her new husband, makes a life for herself and for her family.

Its quite well written, although I got frustrated with how submissive and concerned with appearances and silly customs she was, but thought the third section was rather off pace, having seen it all so far through Willow's eyes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribe UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I have very little knowledge of the aspect of picture brides or the influx of Korean migrants to Hawaii in the early 20th centuy. But what I found was a book that is open about the history of these events and how it was a struggle for these poor women trying to find a new life.

The book is split into three parts. Part One follows the journey of the women from their lives in Korea to Hawaii. Part Two is about their struggles with their life and facing political turmoil. Part Three is set eighteen years later from the point of view of one of the characters daughters, just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

I adored the first two parts. Seeing Willow’s life change and the struggles that she faced as a mother and an immigrant. How her dream of being educated is ultimately not able to come true. Whilest still being grateful for having a husband who is young and alike his photo.

During Part Two, I learnt so much about the Korean experience at this time with the Korean Independence movement coming to the front of their minds. It saddened me how politics can cause divides within communities that want the same outcome. I felt for Willow as an outsider to these extreme sides. Her need to persevere in her uncomfortable situation and look after her family.

I was a little confused about the inclusion of Part Three, as I found the switch in character focus to be jarring and unnecessary. And while I could believe the twist, it wasn’t needed and wasn’t resolved.

Undoubtedly the best part of this book is the friendship and bond between Willow, Hongju and Songhwa. These three women are so different in their lives back in Korea: Willow being a lower ranked country girl, Hongju being the widowed daughter of a wealthy family & Songhwa being an outcast as a shaman’s daughter. But by proximity and their experience travelling together to Hawaii have bonded them forever. I loved that even though they were seperated at times by location and circumstance, that they always kept the others in their minds.

I loved the evolution of Willow’s character and how spunky Hongju was even in her deepest despairs. But I found Songhwa to always be a mystery. Something she also remained to the other characters I feel. I would have liked to have learned more about her story, especially when it’s revealed Songhwa made a descision for herself for once.

I also want to give a massive credit to An Seon Jae for the translation notes at the end of the novel. It gave so much insight into the writing of the text. The choice of Korea instead of Chosun as most English speakers know of this. The descision to translate WIllow’s name literally whilst keeping everyone else’s.

I think this is a lovely little book that I found myself reading through quickly. If you need to be exported to a different time with female friendship playing a key role then I would reccomend this. Especially as it’s not common to come across a translated historical Korean novel.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a warm and engaging story about the hardships Korean women experienced and overcame in the early 1900's in Hawaii. Willow garnered enormous empathy for her hard work and resilience. It was good to have Pearl's perspective eighteen years later.

Who wouldn’t be delighted to see this stunning cover drop through their door? I love stories of the Far East and am always looking for glimpses into its history and culture. This beautiful book gave me both!

In 1918, Willow was just one of a handful of picture brides who left Korea for Hawaii. She had been told that her husband owned land, that food and clothes grew on trees and best of all, that she would be able to go to school there. However, that’s not exactly the life that awaits her. While he is young and handsome compared to the other husbands, Willow’s husband Taewan never really wanted to marry her and is still mourning his true love. Back in Korea, the independence movements are building and their influence are filtering into the Korean-Hawaiian community too, creating divisions and damaging friendships. But Willow is determined to make a good life for herself in Hawaii and she may need the strength of her sister picture brides to do it.

Much like I believe the US still is for many people, Hawaii was sold as a paradise to the picture brides. They believed it would be a place of possibilities, freedom and wealth. Compared to life in Korea, it was something close to that for some of them but there’s no denying that these women were lied to and that the difficulties they’d face were never mentioned. Unfortunately, they had to learn that the hard way.

The treatment of women was constantly touched upon. It was considered to be Willow’s friend Hongju’s fault when her first husband died. People genuinely believed that widows had leeched their dead husbands of all life and therefore, to be a widow was a shameful thing rather than tragic. Much like suspected witches, these women were stigmatised and perhaps even feared at a time when they needed compassion and friendship the most. It’s just such an unfathomable thing now and watching Hongju’s journey through the book was heartbreaking.

Appearances are everything to the picture brides because of course, they want their husbands to find them attractive and be ‘worth the money that has been spent in getting them to Hawaii’. It’s fascinating to me that the importance of physical appearance for women, especially unmarried women, is still very much a thing in almost every society and culture today. This is something that seems to be immovable and that realisation really sent me into a thought-provoking spiral of disappointment.

Willow is desperate to make her Hawaiian life better than her Korean life was, in whatever way she can. Something as fundamental as being able to tell people your name and what you would like to be called seems revolutionary for her. The fact that many girls were named in service to or referring to the absence of a boy is gut-wrenching and it made me more determined for women like Willow to make changes for the women of future generations.

The book is set against the backdrop of Korean independence efforts and the struggles that caused for Koreans across the world. I gained a lot of historical education through the depiction of this, so I’m grateful to the author for that. Willow and her family live in a multi-cultural community in Hawaii and so her children are raised amongst non-Korean children. Her joy at seeing her young son making friends with a Filipino child, despite not even sharing a language was so beautiful to see. It was little moments like this that reminded me that hope is always present somewhere, no matter how much blood is spilled.

The Picture Bride is a moving, sweeping story of women making the best with what their lives have dealt them. There is a twist in the final section, which completely blindsided me but that I thought was pretty special. It is thoroughly educational, inspirational and hopeful. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who loves stories of female friendship and Korean history.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The story was really good, interesting and informative, and I liked the characters, but I felt very little emotion and I think something might have got lost in translation. It's definitely worth reading to find out about the lives of Korean picture brides, girls who emigrated to America to marry men they had only seen in a photo, but it didn't grab my heart so I'm a bit disappointed.

I'd like to thank the publishers, Scribe UK, and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance release copy. All opinions are my own.

An insightful read into the historical custom of picture brides; in this case girls from Japanese - occupied Korea who were sent to Hawaii to become wives to sugarcane plantation workers.

Set up by a matchmaker - the Posan Ajumma, Willow is sent a photo of her prospective husband and is told that if she does decide to accept the proposal, her life will be a bed of roses. On encouragement from her mother, Willow accepts the proposal. Her recently widowed best friend HongJu and the local shamen's daughter SongHwa also follow suit and the three girls, along with many other picture brides travel to Hawaii together.

On arriving in Hawaii, many of the girls find out that their prospective husbands had actually lied about their age and some of the girls end up marrying men who are much older than them. Willow is one of the luckier ones but although her husband Taewon is young, he is emotionally distant.

The story follows Willow's life in Hawaii; initially looking after her frail father-in-law and then the hardship she faced as Taewon emerges himself fully into striving for Korean independence from Japan.
Through this story, Lee Geum Yi gives an in-depth insight into the political circumstances in Korea at the time, the different factions and the fight for independence which affected a majority of the Koreans living in Hawaii.


Through this story, Lee Geum Yi gives an in-depth insight into the political circumstances in Korea at the time, the different factions and the fight for independence which affected a majority of the Koreans living in Hawaii.

Had it not been for the time-jump, I would have given this book a solid four stars. Pearl's story (and the twist) was quite a let down as it seemed unnecessary.

This is stunning.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

A fascinating insight into the lives of Korean women who left Korea in the early 20th century and journeyed to Hawaii as ‘picture brides’. They married based on photos exchanged with Korean men who’d left Korea to work on Hawaiian sugarcane and pineapple plantations in the hope of making a better life. The narrative style is informative rather than immersive, so although it was an interesting read, it lacked the emotional depth that I’d expected and which is so often abundant in this type of story. The story follows three women, but is told from Willow’s perspective. Needless to say, what the local matchmaker promised them is very different to what they find on arrival, and the story follows the womens’ lives as they adapt to living in a new country.
The POV switches towards the end of the book, jumping forwards eighteen years. There’s a last-minute twist that failed to impact me as it should have, due to the writing style.
Nonetheless, this was an interesting read that held my attention, about a country and culture I know very little about, and I completed it within 24 hours.
A well-earned four stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribe U.K. for the opportunity to read an ARC. The Picture Bride publishes in the U.K. on November 10th.