Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Sook Nyul Choi was born in Pyongyang, North Korea. As a young refugee during the Korean War, Choi learned to face injustice and cruelty with courage and determination. Choi’s novels, which are based upon her own experiences, have enriched the lives of young people all over the world. Choi emigrated to the Unites States to pursue her college education. She graduated from Manhattanville College in 1962. Except for a brief period during which she worked in the business world, she taught in public and parochial schools in New York and Massachusetts for 20 years while raising her two daughters.  Sook Nyul Choi is the author of Year of Impossible Goodbyes, a novel about 10-year-old Sookan and her life in Korea during the aftermath of World War II. It has been translated into Korean, French, Italian, and Japanese. It is an ALA Notable Book and has received many other honors as well. Choi also wrote Echoes of the White Giraffe, a sequel to Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Sookan, again the main character, is now 15 and a refugee growing up amidst the sorrows of the Korean War. Her story brings to life the time, place, and intense emotions of a people surrounded by turmoil and tragedy.