I just finished your beautifully written story of Hana and Emi a few moments ago and felt compelled to do something I have never done before…seek out the author to give a heartfelt thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing their story, the story of ALL the comfort women. I am sitting here in tears, heartbreaking tears for both Emi and Hana in their losses and empty hearts, but also happy tears for Emi in releasing her lifelong secret heartaches in sharing her story with her adult children, as well as Hana’s resolve to stay with Alton. I so wanted a physical reunion, but certainly understood and appreciate the resolve in both their lives. Especially Emi, as she so needed that to pass into the world beyond, to again stand with her mother, father, and Hana, all waiting for her.

I never knew of this heartbreaking time in history before finding your book. Bravo to Kim Hak-sun and the others who bravely shared their stories. Thank you for including your Author’s Note, research guide, and the Korean Timeline. My heart simply broke when I read of the removal of the Statue of Peace. May your writings fill in the void it leaves.

I apologize for my lengthy comment, I am just so moved (and emotionally drained!) , that I felt compelled to thank you for your time, your research, and your beautifully written conceptual understanding of how the story of the comfort women needed to be shared. I am looking forward to finding some of the books in your Further Reading List. I understand you have written a second novel, so will most definitely be looking for that!

Thank you again!!!

Mary, I just finished White Chrysanthemum and it was a delight. Loved the relationships as they were revealed. Was familiar with the lives of the comfort women but had not read their story in many years. Thank you so much!

Your book was beautiful! Loved your afterward too, I loved understanding more about your process, thank you for sharing! I think I will always have a soft spot fir Mongolia now… hoping you will write more – anything in the works? ❤️

I just finished reading White Chrysanthemum this evening, and it was the best book I have read in years! I do hope you continue to write more stories of that caliber, and I will be one of your most faithful followers. I’m so glad you let Hana live in the end, because no one deserves life more. Thank you for a sensitive, life affirming story.

How lucky to have discovered your book because my wife is part of a women’s book club. The happy end of Hanna’s destiny in this united, free and living family on the great plains of Mongolia is great and allayed my indignation. One of the mysteries of the female soul for a man is Emi’s love for the children she had with her husband, her father’s murderer.
Love, poetry, what a joy to read your book and to forget this world which does not seem to have understood the essentials.
Excuse the mistakes, I’m French.

Hello Ms. Bracht, do you have any interest in doing school visits (in S. Korea, Jeju Island)?

I just read your heart-wrenching, fantastic, novel and the next day I thought your storytelling of the sisters and the one, a ‘comfort woman’, would make a fabulous movie. That same day I read about the release of the film of Crazy Rich Asians. Wow! I hope you will pursue White Chrysthansemum becoming a movie with a sensitive director and cast. I also look forward to your future writings. Thank You, Ms. Bracht for the tenderness, rage, and passion of your characters in the book.

Thank you for writing White Chrysanthemum. It has opened my eyes while making me weep.