The Young Will Remember
North Korea South Korea

The Young Will Remember

by Eve J. Chung

War & Conflict Historical Fiction Literary Fiction 2026

Summary

In the frozen winter of 1950, a plane carrying Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is shot down over North Korea. Stranded behind enemy lines during the Korean War, Ellie fears she will never see her family again—until a mysterious woman steps forward and claims her as her missing daughter.

The woman, who calls herself Emma, has spent years searching for her own child, lost in the aftermath of an earlier war. Although she knows Ellie is not her daughter, she refuses to leave another woman’s child to die. Taken in by Emma and a pastor’s family, Ellie must navigate a dangerous landscape where trust is scarce and survival depends on unlikely alliances.

As American bombing intensifies, the group begins a perilous journey south. Along the way, their lives become entwined with the fate of Emma’s missing daughter and the buried traumas of the past. Through these women, Eve J. Chung reveals the human cost of war beyond the battlefield: the families torn apart, the lives forgotten by history, and the extraordinary courage required to protect one another.

Moving and deeply compassionate, The Young Will Remember explores motherhood, sacrifice, and the bonds that can form between strangers amid unimaginable suffering.

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North Korea
Asia
South Korea
Asia
About the author
Eve J. Chung
Eve J. Chung

Eve J. Chung is a Taiwanese American human rights lawyer and novelist whose work focuses on gender equality and women’s rights. Her professional experience in human rights informs her interest in the ways war, displacement, and political upheaval affect women and families. She lives in New York. Chung made her fiction debut with Daughters of Shandong, a historical novel following a Chinese family forced to flee during the Chinese Civil War. The book established her as a writer interested in the overlooked experiences of women caught in major historical events. Published in May 2026, The Young Will Remember continues these themes through the Korean War, bringing attention to women’s resilience, the long shadow of historical violence, and the human stories that are often lost in official accounts of conflict.

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Details
Published
2026
Author
Eve J. Chung