In Unnie, Yun-Yun adapts a harrowing tragedy into an indelibly haunting family drama. Grounded in specific details, the novel memorably presents a universal story about the overwhelming effects of sudden loss. On April 16, 2014, the South Korean ferry MV Sewol sank while traveling from Incheon to Jeju. Out of 476 passengers--most of whom were high school students and teachers on a school field trip--304 died. The Park family, who are the novel's protagonists, are fictional, but were "created from an amalgam of true stories of the victims' families."
The titular Unnie (Korean for "older sister") is the Parks' eldest daughter, Mi-na, who was one of the teachers among the victims. Her sister, Yun-young, is the novel's primary narrator. Unnie moves back and forth in time as Yun-young reconstructs details of Mi-na's life. Mi-na, who "never did a thing that would worry [their parents]" found fulfillment as a teacher, despite having once "hated school." The family's grief over her sudden death is exacerbated by the failures that follow, including lack of rescue efforts, mendacious reporting, and the politicization of human loss. That Mi-na's is one of nine bodies never recovered makes peace impossible.
Originally published in 2022, Unnie has been revised and republished to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster. Yun-Yun, a pseudonym, is also the nickname Mi-na bestowed on Yun-young as armor against the taunts she experienced during the family's five years in the U.S., a connection that underscores the veracity of this fiction. Yun-Yun writes with transparent empathy and never devolves to maudlin exaggerations or suffocating blame. Her storytelling embodies hope, insistently and poignantly channeling "remembrance and sympathy." --Terry Hong