Me, Then

Book excerpt: Su-young is an illegitimate child in 1960s South Korea. War-torn, unforgiving, and devastatingly poor, the country is nothing like the modern, affluent Korea of today. Su-young is moved from home to home as her mother looks for work. Her birth is a stigma of shame for mother and child. Soon after Su-young finds a seemingly stable home with her aunt she receives heartbreaking news: her mother has fallen for a young American soldier. They marry and head for America, leaving Su-young behind. When her aunt falls deeper and deeper into poverty, the family turns on her with cruelty and humiliations. Su-young spirals down. How will she find the courage and resources to fight for her humanity and survival? Her defiant struggle will hold the reader in suspense until the final page.