Flashlight

During a summer in a coastal Japanese town, Serk and his daughter Louisa, aged ten, walk out on the breakwater one evening. He carries a flashlight and cannot swim. Hours later Louisa turns up on the beach, drenched and barely alive, and her father is missing, presumed drowned. Susan Choi's novel follows what remains of the family: Serk had lost touch with his relatives after they moved to North Korea, and Louisa's American mother, Anne, is estranged from her own family. Mother and daughter, drawn together and pushed apart by shared grief, try to move on but cannot escape that night. The story spans decades and four generations. It was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize.

Barack Obama included it among his favorite books of 2025.