Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America is the autobiography of Mary Paik Lee, edited with an introduction by Sucheng Chan. Mrs. Lee provides a rare and vivid glimpse into the lives of the early Korean immigrants who arrived in the United States in the 1900s. The book is divided into three parts: Introduction, the life history of Mary Paik Lee, and appendices together with a bibliographic essay. Sucheng Chan's introduction provides the sociopolitical context of the Korean emigration to the western hemisphere at the turn of the century and greatly contributes to our appreciation of Lee's life history. The autobiography itself consists of sixteen short chapters: the first seven chapters describe the life of Mary Paik Lee in her natal family, and the remaining nine chapters recount her life history since marriage in 1919. The book includes two maps and twenty-eight black and white photographs of the Paik and Lee families. The book is an extremely valuable addition to the scant information on the struggles of the early Korean immigrants in California.

(Excerpt from my review of this book in Korean Culture, 12[4]:42-44. 1991)