Angie Kim’s debut novel Miracle Creek published in April 2019 and it begins with the Yoo family and their business, Miracle Submarine in Miracle Creek, Virginia. Miracle Submarine is a hyperbaric chamber that is controversially used to “treat” the likes of autism, Cerebral Palsy, and infertility. There are various “dives” that take place during each day where groups of people head inside what looks like a submarine, wearing helmets attached to pure oxygen while the chamber is depressurised. During one fateful “dive”, there was chaos; protesters were at Miracle Submarine, a power outage occurred, and six people head into the submarine with only four to come out alive after a fire starts at one of the oxygen tanks.
Miracle Creek is a courtroom drama and a modern day ‘whodunnit’ that breaks down the trial of Elizabeth Ward who was arrested for murder and arson in connection with the explosion and fire at Miracle Submarine. On top of that, Miracle Creek brings up themes such as racism, ableism, sexism, immigration, male fertility, and family dynamics. The reader learns about what happened before, during, and after the explosion through six different sections: “The Incident”, the four trial days a year after the incident happened, and a section simply called “After”. In each of these sections, the reader learns about the events from seven different narrators: Elizabeth (on trial for murder and arson), Pak, Young, and Mary Yoo (South Korean immigrants), Matt and Janine (married and struggling to conceive; Matt survived the explosion), and Theresa (mother to Rosa, a young girl who has Cerebral Palsy; both survived the explosion). Kim flawlessly and intricately interlaces the past and the present of the seven main characters throughout the novel to really give a broader picture of what each character’s life was like before, during, and after the fire. Kim leaves no stone unturned as the reader learns the truth of what really happened on the night of the fire at Miracle Submarine.
Kim’s writing style is both intense and effortless. She not only tells the reader what is going on, she uses gorgeous, rich prose that paints picture after picture for the reader as they make their way through Miracle Creek. Kim has written Miracle Creek in such a way that the reader has to peel back layer after layer to find out more to this mystery. Each character’s story bounces off of the next and propels the story forward at a smooth and steady pace. There is no rushing or redundancy to any of Kim’s writing and everything that she has written in this story has a place; Miracle Creek is extremely satisfying with no questions left unanswered when the reader closes the navy blue book for the final time.
Miracle Creek is not only an entertaining whodunnit, it raises many questions around our own morals and values; the bond and unconditional love we have for our children; and the way we perceive an event in comparison to someone else, even when it is the exact same thing. Kim has written an exquisitely unique piece of art that is to be cherished and praised. Miracle Creek cannot be compared to any other novel solely because it needs no comparison, this hasn’t been done before.
On a personal note, after finishing the novel, I reached out to Angie Kim to share with her a poem (that I had written years ago) about a woman and a weeping willow tree. In Miracle Creek, Mary finds solace in a grove of weeping willow trees, and this setting is brought up multiple times in the story. After sharing my poem with Angie, she told me the inspiration behind the weeping willow grove:
“Mary, in particular, finds the grove of the weeping willows to be her hideaway. That setting was inspired by these two gorgeous weeping willows we have in our backyard, which we planted when we first moved to our house in 1997! They’re now just gorgeous, and I love nothing better than lying on a hammock underneath one of the tree, half-hidden.” – Angie Kim
Miracle Creek is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies?
In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they’re part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it’s clear the explosion wasn’t an accident.
A showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn’t safe?
