Daughters of the Dragon
William Andrews
2014
In Daughters of the Dragon, twenty-year-old Anna Carlson travels from the U.S. to a Korean orphanage in search of her birth mother, only to learn she has passed away. Just as she is about to give up, Anna is handed an antique tortoiseshell comb and a mysterious address, which leads her to the home of the elegant but impoverished Hong Jae-hee. There, Anna hears the devastating, epic story of Jae-hee’s life as a “comfort woman” during the Japanese occupation of Korea and China in World War II. As the story unfolds, Anna learns how the comb, engraved with a two-headed ivory dragon, has been passed down through generations of women, each marked by survival and sacrifice. What begins as a search for identity becomes a revelation of lineage, resilience, and the quiet power of remembrance.
With cinematic pacing and emotional depth, Daughters of the Dragon bridges past and present, weaving personal trauma into the broader historical context of wartime atrocities and their aftermath. Through Jae-hee’s firsthand account, the novel brings to life the brutal realities faced by over 200,000 Korean women. Andrews balances historical detail with intimate storytelling, using the inherited object, the dragon comb, as a symbol of generational endurance. At its heart, the novel is a tribute to the women whose stories were almost lost and a meditation on how identity can be reclaimed through memory, truth, and human connection.
About the Author:
William Andrews is an American novelist whose deep connection to Korea was sparked by the adoption of his daughter from the country. With a professional background in advertising and brand management, Andrews spent decades in the business world before turning his full attention to fiction. Daughters of the Dragon, his breakout historical novel, reflects his fascination with Korean history and culture, and has sold over 250,000 copies since its release. He has since written additional works in the same vein, including The Dragon Queen and The Spirit of the Dragon, all praised for their emotional resonance and historical insight. Now retired from corporate life, Andrews lives in Minneapolis with his wife and continues to write, drawing inspiration from family, legacy, and untold stories from the past.