Crossings — Leonard Chang

Crossings takes an unflinching look at the lives of Korean immigrants, legal and illegal, in the San Francisco Bay Area. This novel centers on Sam, a widower, who finds himself in debt to a local gangster and Unha, an illegal immigrant working at a nightclub. Intertwined with their lives are the lives of other characters-family members, other immigrants, gangsters. Together they form a portrait of a community struggling to better itself. When Unha rebels against the stringent demands placed on her, she is kidnapped and trafficked into prostitution and Sam is determined to save her. An ensemble novel, Crossings is a mosaic of stories about the American dream.