The Most Beautiful Bag

Jia Song, the daughter of Korean immigrants, grows up in New York City, straddling two cultures and expectations. Her life pivots the day a glamorous socialite, Lexi Niarchos, enters her family's bodega with an Hermès Birkin bag. The encounter plants a seed of longing in Jia—a desire for beauty, power, and the invisible armor that luxury can provide. This moment becomes a symbol for Jia's ambitions, fueling her drive to escape the limitations of her upbringing and to prove her worth in a world that often overlooks people like her.

Family Ghosts and Gochujang

Jia's childhood is marked by both overt racism and the quiet strength of her family. She learns to fight back—sometimes literally, as in the infamous "Gochujang Caper"—and is shaped by the expectations of her immigrant parents and the ghostly charge of her grandfather, who tasks her with caring for the family. These formative experiences instill in Jia a fierce sense of responsibility, a complicated relationship with her Korean identity, and a hunger to succeed on her own terms.

Firebreathers and First Impressions

As a junior partner at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, Jia is assigned a high-stakes case involving the Park family, Korean American billionaires who built a beauty empire from nothing. The case is a personal favor from the firm's managing partner, Ben Volker, and represents Jia's shot at making senior partner. But the assignment is fraught: the Parks are embroiled in a bitter divorce, and their family dynamics are as volatile as their fortune is vast.

The Parks of Park Avenue

Jia's investigation introduces her to the three Park siblings—Sora, Suzy, and Minsoo—each with their own wounds and rivalries. Their mother, Jenny, is dying of cancer, and their father, Seven, is divorcing her and hiding the family's wealth. The siblings are united only by their desire to protect their mother and their inheritance, but old resentments and secrets threaten to tear them apart. Jia must navigate their dysfunction, earning their trust while maintaining her professional distance.

Sibling Rivalry Unleashed

The Parks' family meetings are battlegrounds. Sora, the icy eldest, and Suzy, the rebellious artist, are estranged after a scandal involving Sora's husband. Minsoo, the youngest, is caught between loyalty and self-preservation. Their interactions are laced with bitterness, humor, and pain, exposing the ways in which immigrant ambition, generational trauma, and the hunger for approval can both bind and destroy a family.

The Divorce and the Deceit

Seven Park's divorce strategy is ruthless: he claims the family fortune is a fraction of its true value, offering Jenny a pittance. The siblings suspect he's hidden hundreds of millions offshore. Jia, with the help of the Parks' trusted house manager Darius, embarks on a global hunt for evidence—racing against time, legal obstacles, and Seven's network of spies. The search takes them from New York to Scotland, Paris, and the Cayman Islands, each location revealing new layers of deception.

The Birkin Obsession

Throughout the case, Jia's fixation on acquiring her own Birkin bag becomes a motif for her longing for acceptance, security, and self-worth. The bag is both a shield and a symbol—a reminder of what she's fighting for, and of the invisible barriers that still separate her from the world of the Parks and their peers. Her pursuit of the Birkin mirrors her pursuit of professional and personal validation.

Secrets in the Safe

Jia and Darius's investigation uncovers a hidden safe in the Parks' Cayman Islands mansion, containing coded notebooks and bank statements that could expose Seven's financial crimes. But their efforts are repeatedly sabotaged by a mysterious mole within the family's inner circle. Documents disappear, allies become suspects, and Jia is forced to question whom she can trust—including Darius, with whom she shares a growing, complicated attraction.

Betrayal in the Bloodline

As the siblings close in on the truth, old alliances fracture. Suzy accuses Minsoo of conspiring with their father; Minsoo admits he was tempted by Seven's offer to make him CEO. Sora and Suzy's relationship erupts in a public confrontation, dredging up years of pain and betrayal. Jia, caught in the crossfire, must decide whether to prioritize justice, her career, or her own moral compass.

The Mole in the Mansion

The investigation is repeatedly undermined by leaks and betrayals. Jia suspects everyone—Darius, the siblings, even herself. The tension culminates in Greece, where the family gathers on their yacht, the Marado, for what is supposed to be Jenny's final days. As the siblings plot to force Seven's hand, Jia is drawn into a web of coercion, blackmail, and ethical compromise, forced to choose between complicity and conscience.

Death on the Aegean

In a stormy night on the Aegean, Jenny Park vanishes overboard. Seven claims it was an accident; the siblings accuse him of murder. In the chaos, they coerce Seven into surrendering control of the family fortune, threatening to testify against him if he refuses. Jia, as their attorney, is complicit in the cover-up, haunted by doubts about what really happened and whether justice has been served.

The Resurrection of Jenny Park

In a stunning revelation, Jia learns that Jenny Park is alive. Her death was staged—a meticulously planned escape, leveraging her skills as a haenyeo (Korean free diver) and the chaos of the family's infighting. Jenny orchestrated the entire drama to force her husband's hand, unite her children, and reclaim her own agency. She emerges as the true architect of the family's future, offering Jia a new role as Mirae's corporate counsel.

Justice, Lies, and Forgiveness

With Jenny at the helm, the Parks begin to rebuild—redistributing power, wealth, and responsibility. Jia must reckon with her own choices: the lies she told, the lines she crossed, and the meaning of justice in a world where truth is always negotiable. The siblings, scarred but wiser, begin to forgive each other and themselves. Jia, too, learns to forgive herself, embracing the possibility of love, belonging, and a future not defined by fear or ambition alone.

A Future Filled with Green

Jia is offered everything she thought she wanted: partnership at her firm, a Birkin bag, and the admiration of her peers. But she realizes that true fulfillment lies elsewhere—in meaningful work, authentic relationships, and the courage to dream beyond the boundaries set by others. She accepts Jenny's offer, stepping into a new role that honors both her heritage and her individuality.

Singin' in the Rain

The novel closes with Jia surrounded by friends and family, hosting a potluck in her apartment. The rain falls outside, echoing the motif of cleansing and renewal. Darius, now a trusted partner, invites her for a walk in the rain—a gesture of hope, vulnerability, and the promise of a love built on honesty and mutual respect. Jia steps into the future, not as an outsider or an imposter, but as the author of her own story.

Characters

Jia Song

Jia is the daughter of Korean immigrants, shaped by the pressures of straddling two cultures and the trauma of always feeling "other." Her drive to succeed is fueled by both pride and insecurity, symbolized by her obsession with the Birkin bag. As a lawyer, she is sharp, ethical, and relentless, but her greatest struggle is learning to trust herself and accept that worth is not measured by external validation. Over the course of the novel, Jia evolves from a people-pleaser and outsider to a woman who claims her own power, redefines success, and chooses love and community over status.

Jenny Park (Park Jeeyun)

Jenny is the heart of the Park family—a woman who has endured betrayal, illness, and the corrosive effects of wealth. Initially presented as a passive victim, she is ultimately revealed as the architect of her own resurrection, orchestrating her "death" to save her children and reclaim her agency. Jenny's journey is one of self-forgiveness and transformation; she moves from self-sacrifice to self-love, teaching her family (and Jia) that true strength lies in vulnerability and the courage to dream.

Sora Park-Vandeveld

Sora is the embodiment of Korean American perfection: beautiful, accomplished, and emotionally guarded. Her marriage is a façade, her relationship with her twin sister shattered by betrayal. Sora's arc is one of thawing—learning to express pain, forgive, and accept imperfection. She is both a rival and a mirror for Jia, challenging her to confront her own fears and ambitions.

Suzy Park

Suzy is the family's black sheep, using humor, provocation, and self-destruction to mask her pain. Her relationship with Sora is fraught, but beneath the bravado lies a desperate longing for connection and acceptance. Suzy's journey is about confronting shame, embracing vulnerability, and rediscovering the bonds of sisterhood.

Minsoo Park

Minsoo is the youngest Park sibling, caught between loyalty to his family and the temptation of his father's approval. As a gay man in a traditional family, he is both insider and outsider, skilled at navigating power dynamics but haunted by self-doubt. Minsoo's arc is about choosing integrity over ambition and finding his own voice amid the family's chaos.

Seven Park (Chilsoo)

Seven is the self-made billionaire who built Mirae from nothing, only to destroy his family in pursuit of more. Charismatic and ruthless, he is both a product and a perpetrator of generational trauma. His downfall is engineered by the very people he sought to control, and his legacy is ultimately one of loss and regret.

Darius Rohani

Darius is the Parks' house manager and Jia's eventual love interest. The son of Iranian immigrants, he shares Jia's outsider status and her commitment to integrity. Darius is both a source of comfort and a catalyst for Jia's growth, challenging her to trust, to risk vulnerability, and to choose love over fear. His own journey is about honoring his father's legacy and finding belonging in a found family.

Ben Volker

Ben is the managing partner at Jia's law firm, representing both opportunity and the limitations of traditional success. He is pragmatic, supportive, but ultimately invested in the status quo. His role is to test Jia's ambitions and force her to define success on her own terms.

Annika Bergström (Ani)

Ani is Seven's much younger fiancée, a brilliant and beautiful outsider who disrupts the family's fragile equilibrium. She is both a rival and a warning—a reminder of the costs of ambition without empathy, and of the ways women are pitted against each other in patriarchal systems.

The Mole

The "mole" sabotaging Jia's investigation is ultimately revealed to be Jenny Park herself, orchestrating events to force her family's hand. This revelation reframes the entire narrative, challenging assumptions about victimhood, agency, and the power of storytelling.

Plot Devices

Dual Narratives and Unreliable Narration

The novel alternates between Jia's close third-person perspective and interludes from an anonymous narrator, later revealed to be Jenny Park. This structure creates dramatic irony, foreshadows the final twist, and invites readers to question the nature of truth, loyalty, and justice. The unreliable narration mirrors the characters' own self-deceptions and the ways in which family stories are constructed, revised, and weaponized.

The Birkin Bag as Symbol

The Birkin bag recurs as a motif for Jia's longing for acceptance, security, and self-worth. It represents both the allure and the emptiness of material success, and its pursuit parallels Jia's journey toward self-acceptance. The bag's unattainability underscores the novel's critique of the American Dream and the costs of assimilation.

The Family as Microcosm

The Park family's saga is both a specific story of Korean American experience and a universal exploration of family, power, and identity. The siblings' rivalries, betrayals, and reconciliations dramatize the tensions between tradition and modernity, duty and desire, and the ways in which love and harm are often inseparable.

Legal Thriller Structure

The novel employs the conventions of a legal thriller—mystery, investigation, courtroom drama—but subverts them by centering emotional stakes and moral ambiguity. The search for hidden assets becomes a metaphor for the search for truth, belonging, and self-forgiveness.

The Mole and the Twist

The recurring sabotage of Jia's efforts, attributed to a mysterious mole, builds suspense and mistrust. The revelation that Jenny Park is both the mole and the architect of her own "death" reframes the entire story, challenging readers to reconsider agency, victimhood, and the ethics of deception.

Analysis

Park Avenue is a dazzling, multi-layered exploration of family, ambition, and the immigrant experience, blending the propulsive energy of a legal thriller with the emotional depth of a generational saga. Renée Ahdieh interrogates the costs of the American Dream, the corrosive effects of wealth, and the ways in which women—especially women of color—are forced to navigate systems designed to exclude them. The novel's central twist, revealing the matriarch as both victim and mastermind, subverts expectations and reclaims agency for characters often relegated to the margins. Through Jia's journey, the book argues that true success is not measured by status, money, or even the acquisition of a Birkin, but by the courage to define one's own worth, to forgive oneself, and to choose love and community over fear and competition. In a world obsessed with appearances and achievement, Park Avenue insists on the messy, redemptive power of honesty, vulnerability, and dreaming beyond what others say is possible.

Last updated: July 9, 2025