Advance praise

“…a book that does far more than retell a classic tale: it constructs a whole new vocabulary to discuss the most central of human conundrums: how to love and be loved in return. A deeply intelligent examination of the ties that both define and bind our lives.”

—Kirkus, Starred Review

“Amid the thousands of novels based on familial drama, The Sisters K stands as a true original. It is an intense, subtle and extremely complex story of love and hate, and, beyond that, the mystery of biological and emotional ties. In drawing her anguished, gallant characters, Maureen Sun has almost invented a new way of describing the inner lives of humans; it is an achievement.”

—Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica

“Clear-sighted and unafraid, The Sisters K is astoundingly perceptive in its insights about human nature. It is also beautifully written, its emotional intelligence apparent in every passage. This is, simply put, an excellent novel.”

—Ling Ma, author of Severance and Bliss Montage

[A] breathtaking debut… Sun’s novel is a sophisticated study of characters’ motivations, including redemption and revenge, and an exploration into the transactional nature of relationships. Herein lies the genius of Sun’s writing: an all-encompassing reach into the emotional depths of each character, eliciting the self-contained worldview of each while also evoking the emotions, such as guilt, that connect them to each other.

—Booklist

“A work of literature that succeeds in making a reader’s world larger through its fine- grained attention to the minutiae of human feeling is a rare and treasurable thing. It’s even rarer to experience that magic in a debut novel. The Sisters K is an astonishing, humbling work of enormous emotional sophistication; it would be a feat even if it were Sun’s fifth or sixth book. I can’t wait to read all that’s to come from this great talent.”

—Hermione Hoby, author of Virtue

“The revelations and reconciliations that ensue make for a fascinating update on the age-old theme of filial piety. Sun marks herself as a writer to watch.”

—Publishers Weekly

"There's a brutal misogynist logic that underpins Korean patriarchal culture and yet it is so rarely dramatized this intimately in Korean American fiction; here it organizes every part of these sisters' lives, as it does for so many. Chilling, tender, fierce and sharp, the resulting novel is an inheritance drama where everyone is running from their family, one of the most original novels about sisters and family I've read in some time.”

—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

“Razor-sharp, this passionate book dissects the unfolding tragedy of a family strung between two worlds, and the warring currents of love and revenge that bind them together. A tour de force debut.”

—Cynthia Zarin, author of Inverno: A Novel and Next Day: New and Selected Poems

“In a story rippling with emotional insight, Sun renovates the grand tradition of the psychological novel with her fearless rigor. Vengeance, righteousness, lies, and even the challenge of selfless charity—no impulse goes unexamined, and no crisp judgment survives, in the white hot tongs of this masterful debut novel.”

—Benjamin Lytal, author of A Map of Tulsa

“With unflinching prose and psychological acuity, Maureen Sun articulates the strangled, dysfunctional intimacy of three Korean American sisters raised by an abusive patriarch. I was fascinated by their contradictions, resentments, and burgeoning tenderness toward each other. Her characters snake their way through you and linger. Despite its dark themes, the novel ultimately delivers what all three sisters long for: grace. A feverish, stunning debut.”

—Chin-Sun Lee, author of Upcountry

“I fell in love with The Sisters K from the very first page. It’s a novel of tremendous passion and intelligence, but most of all, a novel filled with the characters you will miss long after the story ends. Maureen Sun is tremendous—and The Sisters K is bold, ambitious, and thrilling.”

—Brandon Taylor, author of The Late Americans