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 Joanna Catherine Scott writes with conviction about three orphan children from the same Korean birth family. Scott's calling as the mother of three adopted Korean children and her journalism about the plight of Indochinese refugees increase the credibility of her novel, The Lucky Gourd Shop.
Mi Sook is abandoned when the blood in her umbilical cord is barely coagulated. Rats would have claimed her but for the observant eye of her first parents, the owners of the Utopia Coffee Shop in Seoul, Korea's University District. As a permanent resident of the Coffee Shop, Mi Sook has a new set of parents every time the shop sells and the new owners move in. Each new owner benefits from Mi Sook's natural beauty and business acumen.
Mi Sook's life issue revolves around her maternal instincts and constancy to her three small hungry children in the unpredictable economy of Korea after the war. Mi Sook's closest mother figure is the dressmaker, Madame, in the shop adjacent to the Utopia. The miniature peasant Grandmother Halmoni is the silent pillar of strength Mi Sook needs for guidance. This book shines because the characters are so strong and interesting.
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