| Vendor | |
|---|---|
|
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
| Categories | |
TAILBONE
A novel
A novel about a teenager who runs away from her abusive home to live in a boarding home for single women as a global financial crash devastates the market and people of Seoul.
Set in Seoul in 2008, TAILBONE follows the story of an unnamed teenage girl who, after years of struggling with her alcoholic father's abuse, and what she sees as her mother's cowardice, decides to run away. She has dreams of becoming a flight attendant, inspired by the many poised, polished, women she used to see pulling suitcases down her street, headed to the airline's designated hotel. But quickly, that dream is put on hold, and instead the narrator is pulled into the orbit of one of the other girls living in her boarding house: an older girl named Juju, whose beauty and hardscrabble determination greatly impress the narrator.
But when a global financial crisis threatens to upend the Korean economy, everything the girls have come to rely on for survival mainly, the patronage of wealthy men is put a risk. Everyone begins to struggle, especially Juju, who has long been dependent on one particular benefactor, a man who is all too aware of his power over her. As businesses close and winter sets in, the narrator is forced to reckon with not only her deepening fear for Juju's future, but also her own uncertain path. Will she stay on the run or go back home to her heartbroken mother? In a city where everything rots from greed and desperation, what can a helpless woman like Juju teach her about survival? Will their hope for each other ignite courage or destruction?
Written in the first person, TAILBONE is a novel about the ripple effects of violence both the impact of colonial violence on a country and the impact of violent abuse within a family. It combines the bite of Jenny Zhang's Sour Heart with the ferociousness of Han Kang's The Vegetarian.
Che Yeun's short fiction can be found in Granta, AGNI, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. Her work has received grants from Hedgebrook, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and the David T.K. Wong Fellowship. After completing her PhD in History of Science at Harvard University, she is currently a professor of History of Science & Technology at Texas A&M University. She was born in Seoul, Korea.
But when a global financial crisis threatens to upend the Korean economy, everything the girls have come to rely on for survival mainly, the patronage of wealthy men is put a risk. Everyone begins to struggle, especially Juju, who has long been dependent on one particular benefactor, a man who is all too aware of his power over her. As businesses close and winter sets in, the narrator is forced to reckon with not only her deepening fear for Juju's future, but also her own uncertain path. Will she stay on the run or go back home to her heartbroken mother? In a city where everything rots from greed and desperation, what can a helpless woman like Juju teach her about survival? Will their hope for each other ignite courage or destruction?
Written in the first person, TAILBONE is a novel about the ripple effects of violence both the impact of colonial violence on a country and the impact of violent abuse within a family. It combines the bite of Jenny Zhang's Sour Heart with the ferociousness of Han Kang's The Vegetarian.
Che Yeun's short fiction can be found in Granta, AGNI, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. Her work has received grants from Hedgebrook, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and the David T.K. Wong Fellowship. After completing her PhD in History of Science at Harvard University, she is currently a professor of History of Science & Technology at Texas A&M University. She was born in Seoul, Korea.
| Available products |
|---|
|
Book
Published 2025-11-14 by Bloomsbury |