South Korea

This is the country where the novel is set. There is the sense throughout the narrative that tradition (in the form, for example, the so-called "ancestral rites") plays a fundamentally important role in the everyday lives of the people who live there.

Seoul

This is the capital of South Korea. Much of the narrative is set in this busy and crowded city whose atmosphere and energy provide an effective and albeit rarely glimpsed backdrop against which the inward contemplations of the characters play out.

Chongup

This is the small rural community where Father and Mom make their home, the community that all their children eventually leave in order to make new lives in Seoul.

The House in Chongup

The house where Mom and Father once lived with their children is never described in any great detail, but is nevertheless an important presence in the lives of...