Content warnings: anxiety, assault, death, depression, loss of parents, racism, sexual harassment, war

This novel is the intertwining stories of Mina and Margot Lee, a mother and daughter who have been marked by hard work, loss, poverty, and trying to carve out a small space in the machine that is America. Mina immigrated from Korea in the late 1980s, after the devastating loss of her husband and young daughter. Having, and knowing, not a single person in America, Mina struggles to turn her life around between the barriers of being in America illegally and not understanding the journal. Margot has wanted to distance herself from her poor and struggling mother her entire life, until she finds her mother dead in her apartment and wants to seek justice for her mother. As their separate stories unravel, we learn of the secrets and pain that both women hold. 

The stories work seamlessly together, with Mina's being told in the late 1980s and Margot's in the mid 2010s. They build on each other as secrets are revealed. The pain and sadness shines through the narratives. The relationships are complicated and human. The struggles of being an immigrant, trying to make a better life and the liberties not allowed to them. 

All in all, two beautiful and heartbreaking stories of the complicated and intricate relationships between mother and daughter.