An instant USA Today Bestseller | A LibraryReads Bonus Pick | One of the most anticipated books of Summer, according to The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, Forbes, and many more | With starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and BookList

“A mind bending thriller about personhood, homeland nostalgia, global migration, and all forms of alienation.” —R. F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yellowface

“One of the best debuts of the year.” —John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain

Doppelgängers, corporate intrigue, heartbreak, betrayal, and the harsh permanence of the border: Sublimation is a thrilling and provocative debut for fans of Severance that asks what you'd sacrifice for a different life from award-winning author Isabel J. Kim.


The border cuts you in two.

When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home.

Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.

She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.

How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?

“After Sublimation, the immigrant story will never be the same.” —Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao