Translations of Beauty: A Novel

Mia Yun’s debut novel, HOUSE OF THE WINDS, signalled the arrival of a powerful new storyteller possessed with what one critic called a ‘distinctive and enriching talent, rooted in a vision utterly new to our marvelling eyes.’ Now, in her critically acclaimed follow-up, Mia Yun maps the relationship of twin sisters Inah and Yunah from their early childhood in South Korea to their coming of age in Queens, New York. At the centre of TRANSLATIONS OF BEAUTY is the terrible childhood accident that disfigured Inah for life, and the overwhelming sadness and guilt Yunah feels at having been spared. An unforgettable portrait of growing up in America as immigrant children, Yun’s novel charts the sisters’ endeavour to keep their family whole as years of collective traumas, individual tragedies, and colliding dreams take their toll. Told from Yunah’s intimate, engaging point of view and enriched by a culturally diverse population of supporting characters, the darkly poignant TRANSLATIONS OF BEAUTY achieves timeless, universal resonance in its chronicle of one family’s harrowing - and ultimately redemptive - struggle for dignity, acceptance and wholeness.