Ela Lee Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Ela Lee is an author based out of London. Born in 1995, the British author is also a former litigation lawyer.

Most readers will recognize her from Jaded, her debut novel which was released in 2024. It was published in the U.K. as a lead title by Vintage and in America by Simon & Schuster. It was picked that same year as an Amazon Best Fiction Book of the Year. Lee was also selected as a Spotify Breakout Author and has been named to the ‘Forbes 30 Under 30, Class of 2025’.

Lee’s parents moved to England when they were young adults and grew up in South London with his father (who was Turkish) and his mother (Korean). She was nine years old when she became an official British citizen. For higher education, Lee attended the University of Oxford studying law and graduated.

Prior to working as a writer, Lee started out as a litigator. She was able to land a book deal in 2022 for two books with Harvill Secker. Two years later, her debut novel was released and came out to positive reception. It was written by the author during the time of the Covid-19 lockdowns and so is vaguely based on her own personal experiences. For instance, the main character Jade is a city lawyer who shares the same descent (Korean and Turkish) as Ela. The book also features experiences shared by her friends and workplace colleagues. It was shortlisted for Fiction Book of the Year by Amazon Books UK.

Ela is married and shares her life with her husband and their pet, a mini Aussie Shepherd.

Jaded is the debut fictional novel by Ela Lee. If you have been looking for a new author and a new literary voice to enjoy, Ela is a great selection! Check out this book but if you are sensitive to certain scenarios, be aware that this story contains scenes that may be triggering as there are some darker elements to the plot.

A young woman who works as a lawyer finds herself in a predicament that is not all together comfortable, and now she has to work out what steps to take next. She wakes up in the morning after having attended a work gala, but the big problem is that she doesn’t have a clear memory of how she got home the night before.

She’s going to have to figure out just what happened, and along the way discover where she is going to draw the line and what she will put up with in order to get to the top of the corporate ladder.

Her name is Jade, but that’s not her real name. She calls it her Starbucks name, because as far as she can tell, all children who were born to immigrants have their own Starbucks name. But she used the name as a way to shape her identity and has turned it into a way to become all that she has wanted to be. She has become a successful lawyer, a doting daughter, and a girlfriend who is deeply loved, as well as a loyal friend.

When she finds herself on her own naked after a work event, she is startled to realize that she doesn’t recall how she got home. Her world before was working so well, and this one event is threatening to pull it all apart for good. She has her parents who would not understand, a boyfriend who feels betrayed, and a job that expects silence. Everything that she put together is starting to dissipate.

She believed that she had become all that she wanted to be in life. But at this moment in time, she does not feel like much at all. Funny at times and dramatic, this book is one that may take readers by surprise by its serious nature and topics. But if you’re up for it, this is a well-written story that feels like a dramatic movie in text form that you won’t want to miss.

Minbak is a 2026 novel by Ela Lee. This book was a Radio 2 Winter Book Club Pick and is a great story that is a confident second fictional release from the same author who wowed readers with Jaded.

This is the story of three different generations of women who have made their way across different continents and worked over the decades to try and find forgiveness, truth, and compassion.

In different times, different events are marked. In Incheon in 1985, a baby without a name is born in a South Korean minbak and goes missing nine days later.

Then in London in 2008, tragedy has hit and Hana is looking at ruin. She has no other choice but to move her family into a single room along with her. This includes Ada (her teen daughter) and Youngja (her mother who is not doing well). She converts the rest of the home into a minbak, which is an echo of her own former life.

In their shared room in this confined space, there are not many places to hide. The past ends up coming into contact with the present, and the women are going to have to deal with the history of their family and also with an entire country’s history. Will they be able to make through and stronger than ever? Read this book from Ela Lee to find out!