“My father was born on Christmas Day in 1934. He grew up in what is now...” — Min Jin Lee Quote

“My father was born on Christmas Day in 1934. He grew up in what is now part of North Korea. When the Korean War began, my father was 16, and he found passage on an American refugee ship,thinking he'd be gone for just a few days, but he never saw his mother or his sister again.”

“I have accepted the fact that I don't work very quickly, that I have been rejected a lot as a writer, and that what I do is unusual, so I just have to accept the terms and that it's going to take longer. It is what it is.”

“I think that the shame of being different is very painful for a lot of people.”

“My first real job, I sold Christmas trees when I was twelve for extra money. I did that until I was fifteen. Then I bagged groceries, and I worked at the first Borders ever in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

“I love the smell of a real Christmas tree - also, my mum's Christmas pudding with brandy sauce.”

“I've lost two jobs, at Newcastle and Norwich, but that's the nature of the game these days. It doesn't remove winning the Championship with Newcastle from my record, nor finishing 11th in my first season at Norwich after we went on an incredible run before Christmas.”