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Pachinko begins in 1910 in a fishing village on the island of Yeongdo, off Busan, with a boardinghouse keeper's daughter who falls for a rich fish broker and finds herself pregnant by a married man, and ends in 1989 among the pachinko parlours of Japan. It took Min Jin Lee decades to write. Her newest novel, published on 29 September 2026, follows a family from Seoul through the Asian financial crisis of 1997 to Sydney and then California. This guide covers all three of her novels in order, the quartet they belong to, and where to start.
By Lisanne Swart · 3 books · Literary fiction · 2007–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Min Jin Lee has published three novels: Free Food for Millionaires (2007), Pachinko (2017) and American Hagwon (2026), the third book in a planned quartet about Korea and the Korean diaspora. The books share themes but no characters, so they can be read in any order. The question is whether you start with the one everybody knows or the one that has just come out.
Where to Start with Min Jin Lee
If you want the famous one
→ Pachinko (2017).
If you want the brand-new one
→ American Hagwon (2026).
If you want to start where she started
→ Free Food for Millionaires (2007).
All 3 Min Jin Lee Books, in Order
Free Food for Millionaires
Casey Han, the Princeton-educated daughter of Korean immigrants in Queens, graduates with expensive tastes, no job and no money, and tries to make a place for herself in Manhattan's worlds of money, status and love. It is the first book of the quartet.
Pachinko
Four generations of a Korean family, from colonial Korea in 1910 to Japan in 1989. Sunja, pregnant and unmarried, leaves her mother's boardinghouse in Yeongdo to marry a gentle, sickly minister and moves with him to Osaka, where her sons and grandsons grow up as Koreans in Japan, never fully accepted and often making their living in the pachinko parlours. It was a finalist for the National Book Award, became an Apple TV+ series in 2022, and was ranked fifteenth on the New York Times list of the best books of the 21st century.
American Hagwon
John and Helen Koh and their three children are building a life in Korea when a terrible betrayal and then the 1997 Asian financial crisis upend everything. They leave Seoul for Sydney and finally California, where the children find new chances while the parents' qualifications count for little. At more than six hundred pages, it is the third book in the quartet and grew, Lee has said, from wanting to understand why education matters so much to Koreans everywhere.
How Many Books Did Min Jin Lee Write?
Three novels between 2007 and 2026. They form the first three books of a planned quartet about Korea and the Korean diaspora.
- The quartet so far — Free Food for Millionaires (2007), Pachinko (2017) and American Hagwon (2026), with a fourth book still to come. Read the entries · Authors like Khaled Hosseini: who to read next →
In What Order to Read Min Jin Lee
The novels share subjects, not characters, so you can start anywhere. Read in publication order, they move from one Korean American woman in New York to a century of Koreans in Japan and then to a Korean family scattered across three continents.
A reading path
1. Pachinko (2017)
2. American Hagwon (2026)
3. Free Food for Millionaires (2007)
Quick facts about Min Jin Lee
- Born
- Seoul, South Korea
- Moved
- To Queens, New York, with her family at the age of seven
- Education
- Bronx High School of Science; history at Yale; law at Georgetown
- Before the novels
- Corporate lawyer in New York
- Honours
- New York State Author Laureate, 2025–2027; Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence, 2024
- Pachinko
- National Book Award finalist; Apple TV+ series (2022)
- Teaches
- Writer-in-residence at Amherst College
- Books
- 3 novels, from 2007 to 2026
How Min Jin Lee Writes: The Long View
Lee writes long novels slowly. Ten years separate each of her books, and Pachinko went through several drafts over decades before it was published; she has said she rewrote it after moving to Tokyo and interviewing Koreans living in Japan.
Her novels follow whole families across generations and borders, and she moves freely between characters rather than staying with one narrator, so that the history of Korea and its diaspora is told through many ordinary lives at once.
Watch
Min Jin Lee in conversation with David Remnick
On The New Yorker Radio Hour, she talks with David Remnick about leaving corporate law to become a novelist, and about making Korean culture and experiences legible to readers around the world.
Frequently asked questions about Min Jin Lee's books
How many books has Min Jin Lee written?
Min Jin Lee has published three novels: Free Food for Millionaires (2007), Pachinko (2017) and American Hagwon (2026).
What is Min Jin Lee's new book?
Her new novel is American Hagwon, published on 29 September 2026. It follows the Koh family from Seoul through the 1997 Asian financial crisis to Sydney and California, and is the third book in her planned quartet about Korea and the Korean diaspora.
Do I need to read Pachinko before American Hagwon?
No. The novels share themes but not characters, so American Hagwon can be read on its own.
Is Pachinko a true story?
No. Pachinko is a novel and its characters are invented, but it is grounded in the real history of Koreans in Japan from the colonial period to the late twentieth century.
What is a hagwon?
A hagwon is a private tutoring academy in Korea. Lee has described it as any school or organisation that gives private lessons, such as cram schools or music classes.
Footnotes
- Announcing American Hagwon — Hachette Book Group
- Min Jin Lee's American Hagwon to be released in September — Associated Press
- American Hagwon — Archway Bookshop
Bibliography last verified 1 October 2026.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all hers.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“History has failed us, but no matter.”
— Min Jin Lee, Pachinko (2017)
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