All Things Under the Moon - Softcover

Choi, Ann Y. K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1982114568 ISBN 13: 9781982114565

Verlag: Simon & Schuster, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

Pachinko meets Beasts of a Little Land in this stunning, evocative tale, set in 1920s Korea, of one seemingly ordinary woman—an uneducated villager living under Japanese occupation—who takes control of her own destiny and rises to become an advocate for women’s literacy as a force for change.

“Women need other women to survive.”

In 1924, Korea is an occupied country. In Seoul’s secret, underground networks and throughout the countryside, rebellion against the Japanese Empire simmers, threatening to boil over. Kim Na-Young lives a simple life in the rural village of Daegeori, where she watches the moon rise and set over the pine-wooded mountains, tends to her household alongside her best friend, Yeon-Soo, and cares for her sick mother.

But the occupation touches every Korean life—even Na-Young’s. In the wake of a tragedy that stuns the village, Na-Young’s father arranges her marriage to a man she’s never met, and Na-Young and Yeon-Soo decide to flee, taking their fate into their own hands. That decision sets them on their own collision course with the occupying forces, resulting in a violent encounter that will alter both of their lives forever—in shockingly different ways.

Taking us from a small village to the bustling corridors of Seoul, where women and girls can learn to read and write in multiple languages and members of the revolution pass coded messages through the back rooms of teahouses, Ann Y. K. Choi weaves a masterful tale of a woman taking command not only of her own identity but her own destiny.

A sweeping journey through historical Korea and an utterly compelling portrait of one woman’s remarkable life, All Things Under the Moon is both a stunning literary achievement and a beautifully written tribute to the sacrifices women make for each other.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ann Y. K. Choi, originally from Chung-Ju, South Korea, is a Toronto-based author and educator. Her novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety, was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award. In 2017, Choi was honoured by the Korean Canadian Heritage Awards committee and awarded with the Culture Award for promoting Korean heritage within Canada. Choi currently serves on the program advisory committee for gritLIT, Hamilton’s literary festival, mentors emerging writers in a group she founded called Writers in Trees, and teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies.

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Monsoon

Monsoon

Daegeori, 1924

The monsoon rain was at its worst that July. The day the sun came out, the women of Daegeori headed for the river with loads of white shirts, white pants, and other white clothing in hand. White had been the colour that commoners wore long before the Japanese empire seized control of the country. From a distance, the laundry looked like melting snow along the riverbanks as the women laid out their wet clothes.

For generations, the remote village had been isolated by the surrounding pine-wooded mountains. In the ancient principles of pungsu jiri, mountains and rivers were key to a balanced and prosperous life. Mountains harnessed the wind and the rivers moved water. This constant movement from the sky to the earth transported energy, qi. In Daegeori, the highest mountain at the rear of the village blocked the wind and protected the fields, and the rivers that flowed from the mountains enriched the many rice fields and allowed for lush fruit and nut orchards to thrive.

It was already late morning by the time Na-Young reached the river. Carrying a straw basket filled with her and her mother’s dirty clothes on her head, she bowed to several of the women and exchanged the usual courtesies. Like them, Na-Young wore a hanbok, the traditional long-sleeved jeogori worn over a full-length wraparound skirt, the chima. The soft pink colour of her clothes reflected her status. Her father was a prominent landowner with the second-largest walnut orchard in their village. Not that that meant much these days. Since the Japanese had taken over Korea fourteen years ago, many landowners across the country had been forced to pay more than half their crops as rent to Japan, effectively making them tenants on their own land. Even Sang-Hoon, Na-Young’s oppa, her older brother, had to abandon his plans to attend university to help out. He had wanted to be a doctor and was crushed. Things were different when Korea had a king, he had told her. Now a Japanese governor-general oversaw control of the country, and the Japanese emperor ruled over the empire of which it was a part. But all of that felt far away on this bright day that came after weeks of rain.

Na-Young spotted her friend Yeon-Soo nearby. Her naturally red highlights, the same colour as wild omija berries, seemed to sizzle against her coal-black hair, which she wore in a bun close to the nape of her neck.

As Na-Young picked her way towards her friend, she passed Su-Bin, Yeon-Soo’s only child, sprawled on the dirt. His blue pants, made of the finest silk, were stained brown and green, and there was a tear in one knee. He was shooting pretend stones into the air with a slingshot.

“Anh-yong,” Na-Young greeted him.

Su-Bin sat up and motioned for her to come closer. He opened his mouth to reveal that he had lost another tooth.

“Soon all your teeth will be grown-up ones, and you will be a man.”

“I’m already ten years old,” he said. He winced when she patted his head, and lay back down on the ground. Na-Young continued towards his mother. “Good morning,” she said, dropping her laundry. “Is your boy doing all right?”

“Good morning!” Yeon-Soo shielded her one good eye from the sun as she peered up. Na-Young noticed her friend’s hands were swollen and bruised.

Yeon-Soo caught her looking. “Su-Bin fell, hit his head, and tore the new pants that his grandmother got him. She was furious,” Yeon-Soo said. “He was chasing a dragonfly.”

Everyone in the village knew that Lady Lee had a temper, and that she looked down on Yeon-Soo because she had worked as a servant before Lady Lee’s eldest son, Jung-Nam, fell in love. When Yeon-Soo became pregnant, a marriage was arranged. Because she had been born blind in one eye and had unusually red hair, all her parents got for her were three bags of potatoes and a large bag of walnuts. “I wasn’t even worth a single grain of rice,” she often said to Na-Young. “You won’t have to worry about that when your family arranges your wedding.”

When Yeon-Soo gave birth to a son, her status in the house was secured, but, like his mother, little Su-Bin had trouble seeing well. He also was prone to repeating sounds he heard around him, and his head often jerked to one side. Lady Lee considered these impediments and felt that Su-Bin was not the heir she’d hoped for. This was just one more reason for her to hate Yeon-Soo, although Yeon-Soo’s husband shielded her from the worst of Lady Lee’s anger. But when he died from a sudden heart attack two years ago, Lady Lee made Yeon-Soo the target of her grief and began to lash out, often beating her for the smallest infraction. As her friend was older, it wasn’t Na-Young’s place to comment on the abuse she endured, but Na-Young knew it probably hurt Yeon-Soo’s hands to do the laundry. Thankfully, she only had Su-Bin’s clothes and her own to wash.

“Let me help you,” Na-Young said, rolling up her sleeves. “How did your son fall?”

Yeon-Soo sniffed the shirt she had been washing and dropped it back into the water. “I got the smell out, but grass and bloodstains are another matter. He was playing with a dragonfly when a bird suddenly appeared and attempted to feast on it. He attacked the bird with his slingshot, running after it until he tumbled over some rocks.”

“He thought it was his father again?” Na-Young whispered.

“Yes.”

“How exhausting it must be for him to believe his father’s spirit still lives in other forms.”

“I don’t think there’s any harm in believing that someone is watching over us.”

“I suppose it’s a bit of a survival instinct given his…” Na-Young stopped.

“Oddities?” Yeon-Soo said. Her lips parted, but she said no more.

Na-Young tugged at her jeogori to allow some cooler air to reach her skin.

“How’s your mother doing?” Yeon-Soo asked.

“Not even the sunshine can draw her outside.” Na-Young sighed as she thought of her mother, cooped up in her room. It started when Na-Young’s older sister, Mi-Young, died seven years ago. They had all grieved the loss, but Mother had retreated into herself. It didn’t help that Na-Young’s father had taken a second wife.

Yeon-Soo nodded in understanding and the two fell quiet as they turned back to work. Na-Young took a shirt from her friend’s basket and soaked it in water, then used a heavy wooden washboard to scrub it. Once the shirt was rinsed and wrung out, she moved on to the next garment.

The water was cool, but soon she was sweating under the heat of the sun. She dipped her braided hair into the river and used the tail to splash water over her face.

In the distance, a dog barked, and Su-Bin mimicked the sound, letting out a high-pitched squawking noise. The dog barked again. So did Su-Bin. The other women began hushing him, calling, “Quiet, Chicken Boy.”

Na-Young had not been there to witness the “Great Chicken Miracle” that had given Su-Bin his nickname. As the only son, Su-Bin had been given the task of killing the chicken that would be the special dinner to mark the one-year anniversary of his father’s death. He was told by the cook to chop the head off at the neck, but he’d botched the task, the axe’s...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Simon & Schuster
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1982114568
• ISBN 13: 9781982114565
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 306
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: webstar; casetta@mondadori.it; ; Via Mondadori 1,; Segrate Milano; 20090; Italien