Rosa Kwon Easton | Exclusive Excerpt: RED SEAL

Excerpt from RED SEAL by Rosa Kwon Easton:

KO-CHAN

Pyongyang

April 1943

The loud squeal of the train’s brakes woke Ko-chan up from a deep sleep. He patted his jacket and felt the gold metal buttons on his kindergarten uniform. He was a big boy now at seven, not six, Mother said, because in Korea you’re already one when you’re born. His black school cap sat flat on his lap. He had lost it for a second when he ran back to hug his grandmother outside their house in Kyoto.

“Where are you going?” his cousin had asked him. Ko-chan and his cousins had all lived together with their grandparents ever since he was born. His father died when he was a baby, so his grandparents took care of him while his mother worked.

“I’m going on a trip with my mom!” Ko-chan said. “She promised we’ll be visiting my uncle in Korea. He’s going to give me chocolate!”

Ko-chan had been excited at first, but then that stranger in the red hat came out of nowhere at the ferry station in Japan and said his grandparents were looking for him. But his mother said she wanted to be with him. And he wanted to be with his mother for a change, like all the other kids he knew.

Now a sharp pain pinched his chest. He missed home. He wanted to eat yakisoba noodles with his grandmother, and sleep in the same bed with his cousins again. How long was he going to be in Korea? It looked a little like Japan with all the Japanese signs, but everything else seemed strange. Soldiers and tanks were everywhere. Some people wore white Korean clothes and others wore kimonos. And some spoke Japanese, but many spoke only Korean. He couldn’t understand Korean.

Ko-chan didn’t feel a year older. Right now, he felt confused. He shook his mother awake.

“Okaa-san,” Ko-chan said. “Are we at Korean uncle’s house yet?”

Mother groaned, like she had been having a bad dream. She opened her eyes but didn’t seem to know where she was. Ko-chan shook her shoulders harder, trying to wake her up. Look at me! She was the only person he knew in this whole country. She came and went to work all the time when he lived with his grandparents in Kyoto. She could disappear again, and he would be alone in this strange new place!

Mother’s mouth rounded into a smile at seeing him, and he felt a little better. She glanced over his shoulder out the window and nodded.

“Hai. We’re in Pyongyang. This is close to where I used to live,” Mother said.

“You lived here?” Ko-chan said. “When you were a little girl?”

“Yes.” Her voice sounded far away. Mother really didn’t talk much. Except when she told him that he would have fun on this trip. And he did at first. He got to ride on ferries and trains. His cousins didn’t get to do that. Mother let him do what his grandmother in Japan wouldn’t because he might get lost. Halmeoni wouldn’t let him leave her sight! He hoped Mother would let him play as much as he liked.

People moved about the car getting their bags.

“We’re getting off the train! We’re going to see Korea uncle!” Ko-chan said, feeling excited again. His uncle from Korea was the one who used to send bottle-shaped chocolates with squishy centers at New Year’s. Mother said he was the one who had invited them on this trip.

“Korea uncle will have chocolate, right?” Ko-chan’s mouth watered thinking about food.

“I hope so.” His mother laughed softly. “Let’s go find him.”

Ko-chan pulled his cap on tight and followed his mother out. People pushed against him trying to get to the train door. They were shouting in Korean, and he couldn’t see anything. His throat dried. He had never felt so small. Mother grabbed his shoulders, and before he knew it, he was wrapped in her long kimono sleeves and moving with her through the crowd. He was safe.

After they exited the train car, Mother bent over and looked at him with worried eyes. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, and his cap fell forward. Mother caught it and put it back on his head, then stood up straight again. She stretched her neck as if looking for someone.

“Is Korea uncle here, Okaa-san?” Ko-chan glanced around too, although he didn’t know what his uncle looked like.

“No, he doesn’t know we’re in Korea yet. We left Japan in such a hurry . . .”

“Then who are you . . . ?” Ko-chan shoved his hand into his mother’s this time. “It’s that man in the red hat, isn’t it?” The man’s mouth, full of dirty teeth, flashed in his memory. “You won’t let him take me away, right?”

He wanted to go on an adventure and have Mother pay attention to him. Only him. She said he was important to her, and that was why he came. Mother had bandaged him up when he scraped himself at the fish market in Osaka the first day of their adventure, and he felt special. She was a good nurse. Mother helped deliver that baby before they got on the ferry to leave Japan, and the captain let them ride in a fancy cabin to Korea. He hoped Mother would keep her promise that they would have fun together.

RED SEAL by Rosa Kwon Easton

A Novel

A Korean mother and son navigate wars, displacement, and identity across decades and borders in a moving multigenerational saga by the author of White Mulberry.

In 1943 Japan, the Pacific War rages on. Miyoung, a Korean-born single mother and nurse, defies an order to serve in the Imperial Japanese Army and instead flees with her six-year-old son, Ko-chan, who is leaving everything familiar behind, including the grandparents he loves. Miyoung hopes Ko-chan will finally claim his heritage and that she can reclaim her own as well.

Miyoung promises her anxious son an adventure. Their life-changing trek to Miyoung’s homeland takes them first to Japan-occupied Manchuria, where Miyoung’s brother offers shelter and Ko-chan, coming of age, begins to question where his future lies. When Japan’s defeat in World War II forces them to escape again, it triggers a decades-long odyssey of survival, sacrifice, and—for the generations to follow—a search for identity across three nations.

A powerful tribute to the endurance of family bonds, Red Seal explores the struggle to define oneself when torn between multiple worlds and by cultural upheaval, and the resilience it takes to find a place to call home.

Historical [ Lake Union Publishing, On Sale: October 6, 2026, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662519727 / eISBN: 9781662519710 ]

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About Rosa Kwon Easton

Rosa Kwon Easton was born in Seoul, Korea, and grew up with her extended family in Los Angeles. Easton holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College, a master’s in international and public affairs from Columbia University, and a JD from Boston College Law School. She is a lawyer and an elected trustee of the Palos Verdes Library District. She has two adult children and lives with her husband and Maltipoo in sunny Southern California.