Drifting House

A dazzling debut story collection from Korean-American writer Krys Lee.

Alternating between the lives of Koreans struggling through seventy years of turbulent, post-World War II history in their homeland and the communities of Korean immigrants grappling with assimilation in the United States, Krys Lee's haunting stories weave together intricate tales of family and love, loss and abandonment, on both sides of the Pacific.

In the title story, children escaping famine in North Korea are forced to make unthinkable sacrifices to survive. The tales set in America reveal the immigrants' unmoored existence, playing out in cramped apartments and Koreatown strip malls - from the abandoned wife who enters a sham marriage to find her daughter to the makeshift family which is fractured when a shaman from the old country moves in next door.

Funny, harrowing and brave in turn, Drifting House introduces readers to unforgettable characters, a country's tumultuous history, and a striking new literary voice.