Magnolia: A Novel

Summary

South Korea 1957. Sukey, an intelligent graduate with much promise, falls in love with a man, Kwon, who confesses to her that he has been a North Korean spy. It is four years since the Korean War ended in a cease-fire (having started on 25 June 1950). Even though fighting is suspended, hostility and enmity towards the North is the social norm. With anti-spy campaigns, street and hotel searches, and arrests of any suspect, citizens are urged to be vigilant and to report on any suspicious goings-on. When Sukey takes on Kwon as her lover, she has little idea of what it will be like to keep an ex-spy hidden away from society, her family and friends. Her world changes overnight, and within a few months she is reduced to a nervous wreck...