From Korea to Britain, With Love: A Korean Father’s Letters to His British Daughter

From Korea to Britain, from loss to hope, from hardship to grace — a father’s intimate letter-memoir to his daughter.

When Bon Jeon left Korea with nothing but a suitcase, a dream, and the quiet weight of responsibility, he never imagined how deeply the journey would reshape him — as a husband, a teacher, a hairdresser, and, most of all, as a father.

Written across twenty-five years and two continents, From Korea to Britain, With Love is a deeply intimate collection of letters from a father to his British-born daughter, Olivia. Through these pages, he recounts:

• A childhood marked by hardship, faith, and loss
• A young couple’s struggle for survival in a foreign land
• The unpredictable road toward becoming a hairdresser and college lecturer
• Moments of burnout, doubt, and starting over — again and again
• The miracle of Olivia’s birth in London
• A two-year return to Korea that nearly broke the family… and ultimately saved his daughter’s life
• The diagnosis that changed everything — and the grace that carried them through it
• The fight to rebuild a career in England, one weekend train journey at a time

At its heart, this is a story about a father who chose love, again and again — even when life pulled him into the darkest valleys.

Told with warmth, humility, humour, and poetic honesty, Bon’s letters reveal the unseen labour behind an immigrant father’s life: the sacrifices that go unnoticed, the doubts carried in silence, and the quiet determination to give his child a future brighter than his own past.

For readers who loved Educated, Between the World and Me, or Crying in H Mart — this book is a moving testament to resilience, family, and the small moments that hold a life together.