Key locations

Even most Koreans have never heard of Daegeori, the tiny village where my great-grandmother lived. I called her Daegeori-harmony. It was common practice to add one’s place of residence so that we could tell our many great-grandmothers and grandmother apart. My grandmother from Anyang, my mother’s mother, was Anyang harmony.

In my desire to recreate my protagonist’s world as authentically as possible, my daughter and I travelled to each location mentioned in this novel, from Seodaemun Prison where sixteen-year-old Yu Gwan-Sun was tortured and killed for being a freedom fighter, to my great-grandmother’s old home, and to the mountains of the tiny village not found on any map that serve as formidable bookends of this novel.

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Seodaemun Prison

Seodaemun Prison, now a museum, housed thousands of freedom fighters who opposed Japanese colonial rule.

Tapgol (Pagoda) Park

On March 1, 1919, Korea’s independence was declared for the first time in the park. Mass protests followed, leading to the deaths of thousands of Koreans, including 16-year-old Yu Gwan-Sun, who was an outspoken activist. She was tortured and died in Seodaemun Prison.

Ewha Girls School / Ewha Womans University

The first modern school for Korean girls and women was built in 1886.

Woljeongsa

A temple in Pyeongchang founded in 643. Girls who wanted to avoid marriage often found refute in temples by becoming monks.

More to come!