Sunflower – A Memoir is based upon

the memory of a nine foot tall plant that grew in the front

yard of the Flushing, New York home of the author. This

her mother’s story of growing up in Korea during the wars

with Japan and China before escaping to the United States

to be with her husband who became a Christian minister,

Rev John Yewon Paik. Joyce Paik, his wife, and their four

daughters are central to the narrative. Their mother was

a talented artist who made a career of painting portraits

of tourists in an upscale hotel in New York.

The author, of Sunflower, Joan Sikand, was born in New York

and became a lawyer. She married a highly successful Kenyan

economist and now resides in Nairobi.

Sunflower – Memoiris filled with works of art created by the

author’s mother, Joan Paik. Woven into the written tale are

poems of the gifted author, Joan Sikand.