In the Tunnel

This moving historical novel from Lee (Brother’s Keeper) opens in October 1952, centering bookish Myung-gi, who has joined the South Korean army in order to find his Ahpa. After an explosion traps 16-year-old Myung-gi in an enemy tunnel at the North-South Korean border, alternating chapters trace both his present awaiting death in the tunnel and past experiences beginning in 1945. Emotional third-person narration recounts Myung-gi’s family’s reaction to historical events, including the feeling of freedom at the end of Japan’s imperial rule and rising tensions between Soviet-occupied northern Korea, where the family lives, and U.S.-occupied southern Korea. Ahpa’s criticism of the occupying governments, his smuggling in Western books for Myung-gi, and his previous role as a factory owner necessitates the family’s departure from their home to Busan. Myung-gi’s father is taken by the Red Army before the family can execute their planned escape, however, and Myung-gi, younger sister Yoomee, and their Uhma must make a harrowing journey south to Busan alone, to avoid Myung-gi’s recruitment. Interspersed between harrowing scenes of travel and remembrances of Myung-gi’s father are the youth’s thoughtful ruminations on the human cost of war. Lee compassionately depicts the difficult journey and Myung-gi’s grappling with finding normalcy in this well-paced story about an underreported war. Ages 8–12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (May)