Two families connected by LA riots collide in ‘Your House Will Pay

The riots in South Los Angeles in 1992 may be nearly three decades old, but in the present day, two families in the novel Your House Will Pay will find that the events from that time are far from over.

Shawn Matthews is a former gang member and ex-prisoner in his forties, trying to raise a family and help his cousin acclimate after a decade in prison. Grace Park is a 28-year-old pharmacist who lives at home with her Korean-immigrant parents, trying to understand the reasons behind her older sister’s estrangement with the family. These two main characters have never met, but over the course of the book the reader comes to understand the web of connections between them.

In this episode of the Modern Law Library, the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles speaks with Steph Cha, author of Your House Will Pay, about the real-life incidents that provided the inspiration for her novel. They also discuss why Cha decided to go to law school–and why she decided to be a writer instead of a practicing attorney.

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