American Hagwon

American Hagwon is a contemporary novel about Lila Kim, a Korean American woman who accepts a teaching job at a prestigious English-language hagwon (private academy) in South Korea, hoping for a fresh start after her personal and professional life falls apart in the United States. Instead of finding stability, she is drawn into the highly competitive world of private education, where appearance, success, and reputation often matter more than honesty. (harpercollins.co.uk) As Lila adapts to life in Seoul, she struggles with demanding parents, ambitious colleagues, and students under immense pressure to succeed. At the same time, she wrestles with questions about her own identity, feeling caught between Korean and American cultures. Her search for belonging becomes even more complicated when hidden secrets at the academy begin to emerge, forcing her to confront difficult truths about herself and the education system around her.