Mary H.K. Choi

HUllo.

Mary H.K. Choi is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record and Yolk.

Her fourth novel, Pool House, is available for pre-order now.

Permanent Record is currently being adapted for a feature film; and Yolk, for a TV series, with Choi serving as executive producer and writer for both.

You can buy all three of her books here.

For inquires please contact Jason Richman at UTA.

For appearances/press as it relates to Pool House, please contact Cat Kenney at Flatiron or Duvall Osteen at UTA.

To contact her directly, you can do so here.

She can be found on Threads or Instagram for more musings. Or else you can follow her newsletter.

Portrait: Aaron Richter.

— Out June, 9, 2026. Pre-order now.

AN AUDACIOUS BOOK CLUB PICK

"A sharp, hilarious, unsparing mother-daughter story."—Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of Real Americans

"It’s time we recognize Mary H.K. Choi as an auteur."—Michelle Zauner, New York Times bestselling author of Crying in H Mart

Bestselling young adult author Mary H.K. Choi debuts a brilliantly observed adult novel about mothers, daughters and the complexity of family set against the backdrop of Hollywood

Stevie cannot escape her mother. Abandoning college plans to work a dead-end job, her days are a purgatorial bore. Many dream of moving to L.A. and into the spotlight, but Stevie can’t wait to move away from it, and her mother’s orbit, to start over.

Moon is many things: an out-of-work actress, a recovering addict, whatever a mistress becomes when she’s widowed, and a mother. Reeling in the aftermath of her lover and TV husband’s death, Moon struggles to process her grief. And the last thing she expects is for Stevie to leave her too.

Now, neither Stevie nor Moon can afford to quit each other. And their cost of living forces them into a glass-walled pool house in the backyard, while their home is rented out to pay the bills. But when Adam, Moon’s former TV son and Stevie’s forever crush, arrives for the funeral, the three are pulled into a messy orbit, moving back into the ‘Big House’ and play-acting a picture-perfect family even as tensions rise and relationships unravel.

Pool House is a course charted through the wilderness of motherhood, a story about the challenges of navigating class, fame, burgeoning sexuality, and grief as two women grapple with what it means to grow up and grow older in Hollywood.

— Soon to be a series.

From New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters and how far they’ll go to save one of their lives — even if it means swapping identities.

Jayne and June Baek are nothing alike. June’s three years older, a classic first-born, know-it-all narc with a problematic finance job and an equally soulless apartment (according to Jayne). Jayne is an emotionally stunted, self-obsessed basket case who lives in squalor, has egregious taste in men, and needs to get to class and stop wasting Mom and Dad’s money (if you ask June). Once thick as thieves, these sisters who moved from Seoul to San Antonio to New York together now don’t want anything to do with each other.

That is, until June gets cancer. And Jayne becomes the only one who can help her.

Flung together by circumstance, housing woes, and family secrets, will the sisters learn more about each other than they’re willing to confront? And what if while helping June, Jayne has to confront the fact that maybe she’s sick, too?

— Soon to be a major motion picture.

Permanent Record. Book two. Release date: September 3, 2019. In the same way that Emergency Contact is about love and texting, Permanent Record is about love and social media. And fame. And student loan debt. And clout. And how waiting for the perfect moment to start living your life is a recipe for anxiety storms. You can order it here. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, also, you can read an excerpt on Entertainment Weekly. xo

Meow. Emergency Contact. My first book. My entire heart. Released: March 27, 2018 on Simon & Schuster. You can order from any number of your favorite bookshops. Or libraries are wonderful too. There's also an excerpt Entertainment Weekly. 

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