Excerpt from Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Dusapin, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

On my way back to reception, I took a detour through the fish market to pick up the leftovers my mother had put aside for me. I walked down the aisles to stand number forty-two, ignoring the looks people gave me as I passed. My French origins were still a source of gossip even though it was twenty-three years since my father had seduced my mother and then vanished without a trace.

My mother, wearing too much makeup as usual, handed me a bag of baby octopus:

"That's all there is right now. Have you got any bean paste left?"

"Yes."

"I'll give you some."

"No need, I still have some."

"Why don't you use it?"

"I do!"

Her rubber gloves made a sucking noise as she pulled them on and looked at me suspiciously. I'd lost weight. Old Park didn't give me enough time to eat, she'd have a word with him. I told her not to. I'd been consuming vast amounts of toast and milky coffee every morning ever since I'd started working there, I said, I couldn't possibly have lost weight. Old Park had taken a while to get used to my cooking but he didn't interfere. The kitchen was my domain.


The octopus were tiny, ten or so to a handful. I sorted through them, browned them with shallots, soy sauce, sugar, and diluted bean paste. I reduced the heat to stop them getting too dry. When the sauce had thickened, I added some sesame and tteok, slices of small sticky rice balls. Then I started to chop the carrots. Reflected in the blade of the knife, their grooved surface blended weirdly with the flesh of my fingers.

I felt a chill as a draft blew through the kitchen. Turning around I saw Kerrand come in. He wanted a glass of water. He watched me work while he drank it, staring hard as if he were trying to make sense of the image in front of him. I lost concentration and nicked the palm of my hand. Blood welled onto the carrots, hardening to form a brownish crust. Kerrand took a handkerchief from his pocket. He stood close to me and held it to the wound.

"You should be more careful."

"I didn't do it on purpose."

"Just as well."

He smiled, pressing his hand against mine. I broke away, feeling uneasy. He nodded toward the pan.

"Is that for this evening?"

"Yes, seven o'clock, in the next room."

"You're bleeding."

Irony, statement of fact, distaste. I couldn't read the tone of his voice. And besides, he'd already left.

At dinner, there was no sign of him.


MY MOTHER WAS squatting in the kitchen, her chin pressed to her neck, arms plunged into a bucket. She was mixing fish liver, leeks, and sweet potato noodles to make the stuffing for the squid. Her soondae were known to be the best in Sokcho.

"Watch me work the mixture. See how I spread the stuffing evenly."

I wasn't really listening. Liquid was spurting out from the bucket, pooling around our boots and running toward the drain in the middle of the room. My mother lived at the port, above the loading bays, in one of the apartments reserved for fishmongers. Noisy. Cheap. My childhood home. I went to see her on Sunday evenings and stayed over until Monday, my day off. She'd been finding it difficult sleeping alone since I'd moved out.

Handing me a squid to stuff, she placed her liverstained gloves on my hips and sighed:

"So young and pretty, and still not married ..."

"Jun-oh has to find a job first. We've got plenty of time."

"People always think they have time."

"I'm only twenty-four."

"Exactly."

I promised her we'd get engaged officially, in a few months' time. Reassured, my mother went back to her task.


That night, between the damp sheets, crushed by the weight of her head on my stomach, I felt her chest rising and falling as she slept. I'd gotten used to sleeping alone in the guest house. Her snoring kept me awake. I counted the drops of saliva leaking out one by one from her parted lips and onto my skin.

Excerpted from Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Dusapin. Copyright © 2021 by Elisa Dusapin. Excerpted by permission of Open Letter. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.