From the National Book Award winning author an extraordinary ground-breaking epic
multi-generational novel about a Korean family living under Japanese occupation. In 1930s
Japanese-occupied Korea Lee Woo-cheol was a running prodigy and a contender for the upcoming
Tokyo Olympics. But he would have had to run under the Japanese flag. Nearly a century later
his granddaughter is living in Japan and training to run a marathon herself. She summons Korean
shamans to hold an intense transcendent ritual to connect with Lee Woo-cheol. When his ghost
appears alongside those of his brother Lee Woo-Gun and their young neighbor who was forced
to become a comfort woman to Japanese soldiers stationed in China during World War II she must
uncover their stories to free their souls. What she discovers is at the heart of this sweeping
majestic novel about a family that endured death love betrayal war political upheaval and
ghosts both vengeful and wistful. A poetic masterpiece that is a feat of historical fiction
epic family saga and mind-bending story-telling acrobatics The End of August is a marathon of
literature.
