'America Town' in post-war Korea is a bad place to end up: a garish shanty town of cheap bars and organized prostitution in which mothers fight with daughters over the dollars to be earned off the GIs stationed nearby.

For Sookie and her half sister, Hyun Jin, it's even worse. While still schoolgirls they are introduced by their mother to the seductive pull of American consumer goods, supplied by their soldier lovers, but quickly discover the high cost in human degradation that goes with them, including child prostitution, rape and the brutal loss of self.

Nora Okja Keller's powerful follow-up to the critically acclaimed Comfort Woman is a stark and poetic tale of love, survival and self-sacrifice from an exciting new literary talent.

'The brutal candor and moving empathy that distinguish Keller's first novel about Korea, Comfort Woman, is again evident in this stark, disturbing portrait of that country's outcast children in the wake of American occupation...Forecast: Despite its harsh subject, Keller's novel should do well on the basis of her strong writing and her courage...if Oprah takes a look, she could be hooked.' Publishers Weekly * starred review

'Hyun Jin is a strong, capable character, and the reader is continually appalled by her misjudgments, hoping somehow she will escape her "bad blood" origins and transform herself into the "fox girl" of Korean legend. A powerful though gently paced story.' Kirkus

Nora Okja Keller was born in Seoul, Korea and now lives in Hawaii. Her debut novel Comfort Woman won a 1998 American Book Award and was long-listed for the UK's Orange Prize.

Price: £9.99 (Available in the UK only)
Format: Paperback Original
ISBN: 0-7145-3079-4
Fiction
Publication: September 2002