The Unreliable People

The Unreliable People is a compelling story where love and loss intersect unexpectedly with a Korean fable about a crow king and a rice farmer’s wife.

Antonina is a student at the prestigious Academy of Art in St. Petersburg. She knows she stands out as different, being neither Russian, Korean, nor Kazakh – and yet she embodies all three. She is Koryo-saram: a descendant of the exiled population that Stalin labelled the Unreliable People. But what does that mean? And who was the strange, elegant woman who came to the window when Antonina was a young child? And why did she entice Antonina to climb out and go on a long train journey through Kazakhstan?

DIVE DEEPER

Articles

• “Dear mother” — Griffith Review

Videos

• “Interview with Rosetta Allan” — Happy World Korean TV