Skip to main content
Trade Books For Courses Tradebooks for Courses

Can't I Go Instead

Lee Geum-yi; translated by An Seonjae

Forge Books

opens in a new window
opens in a new window Can't I Go Instead Download image

ISBN10: 1250859557
ISBN13: 9781250859556

Hardcover

384 Pages

$28.99

CA$38.99

Request Desk Copy
Request Exam Copy

TRADE BOOKS FOR COURSES NEWSLETTER

Sign up to receive information about new books, author events, and special offers.

Sign up now

Can't I Go Instead follows the lives of the daughter of a Korean nobleman and her maidservant in the early 20th century. When the daughter’s suitor is arrested as a Korean Independence activist, and she is implicated during the investigation, she is quickly forced into marriage to one of her father’s Japanese employees and shipped off to the United States. At the same time, her maidservant is sent in her mistress's place to be a comfort woman to the Japanese Imperial army.

Years of hardship, survival, and even happiness follows. In the aftermath of WWII, the women make their way home, where they must reckon with the tangled lives they've led, in an attempt to reclaim their identities, and find their place in an independent Korea.

Reviews

Praise for Can't I Go Instead

Can’t I Go Instead’s complex and profoundly human characters will captivate, devastate, and move you, all at once.”—Juhea Kim, author of Beasts of a Little Land and Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist

“A true feast for historical fiction readers who love unpredictable stories and complex characters!”Lorena Hughes, award-winning author of The Spanish Daughter

“Compelling and inspiring, this story speaks of resilience and determination to make the best out of the situation one has been dealt.”—Booklist

Reviews from Goodreads

BOOK EXCERPTS

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE



Lady Gwak’s labor pains began at dawn on April 29, 1920.

Mr. Park, the butler of the Gahoe-dong mansion in Seoul, woke everyone in the main house by hanging oil lamps in the corners where the electric lights could...

Listen to an Excerpt from the Audiobook

Download MP3

About the author

Lee Geum-yi; translated by An Seonjae

LEE GEUM-YI was born in 1962, in her grandmother's house in the small, mountainous village of Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea. She became enthralled with the charms of storytelling early on, having spent her childhood under the influence of her grandmother's bedtime stories. Since then, Lee has published more than fifty books in South Korea, and her work has been translated around the world, including The Picture Bride, her first novel to be published in English. Beloved by readers and literary critics alike, many of her books have been adapted into TV series, musicals, and webtoons. Lee Geum-yi lives in Seoul, South Korea, with her husband, son, and her old rescue dog, Lulu.

photo courtesy of the author