Long Season of Rain

Growing up in Korea during the '60s, four sisters are all devoted to their dutiful mother and resentful of their often absent father, but it is 11-year-old Junehee, the second oldest daughter, who is most affected by the friction between her parents and her mother's deep despair. Like her mother, Junehee feels sympathy for the boy who is brought to their house after being orphaned in a flood. Others, including Junehee's strict paternal grandmother, scorn Pyungsoo because he is from a lower class. Junehee's mother silently endures demeaning treatment and tries to ignore ridicule aimed at the child, until the day she is forbidden to adopt him. Shortly thereafter, both she and Junehee rebel against restrictions of their household and their society as their long-suppressed anger rises to the surface. First-time author Kim's calmly but sharply observant narrative, written from Junehee's point of view, affords insight into another culture and into the more universal circumstance of an unhappy marriage ruled by a husband. A master of understatement, Kim conveys tremendous meaning between the lines. The emotions behind day-to-day conversations, gestures and events are as unmistakable as the compassion and sensitivity of her two heroines. Ages 12-up. (Nov.)