Excavations

At home in Seoul, former journalist Sae is waiting with two clingy toddlers for her husband to come home from work. He has never been this late before. Her children are crying, and Sae, exhausted and anxious, turns on the TV to distract herself. She clicks to the news, which shows a horrific disaster, the collapse of a massive skyscraper where Jae was an engineer.

Minutes, then hours, and then days pass. No one has seen Jae, but things aren't adding up. There are rumors that the foundation was unstable. Jae had told Sae he was working on a swimming pool on the top floor, but reports showed he was in the basement, on a different project. The government was involved but the contractors missing. Sae--who met Jae when they were students at an anti-government protest and has relied on him as her guiding and steadying hand--is troubled, terrified, and...suspicious.

Leaving the children with her estranged mother, Sae sets out to uncover the truth of what happened to her husband. Her research turns up files and secret correspondences pointing to government cover-ups. Eventually, her investigation takes her to an upscale club where the proprietor, Myonghee, is not merely supplying booze and girls but also seeking information, for her own purposes, from every drunken businessman who lets corporate secrets slip. As Sae begins to find what she sought, she must ask herself: how well can you truly know the one you love and how much should you really trust those in power?

Sae is waiting with two clingy toddlers for her husband to come home from work when she learns of a horrific disaster, the collapse of a massive skyscraper where Jae is an engineer. Minutes, then hours, and then days pass. Speculations of North Korean terrorism and structural instability circulate as possible causes of the Tower's collapse. No one has seen Jae, but things aren't adding up. Jae had told Sae he was working on a swimming pool on the top floor, but reports showed he was in the basement, on a different project. Sae--who met Jae when they were students at an anti-government protest and has relied on him as her guiding and steadying hand--is troubled and suspicious.

Leaving the children with her estranged mother, Sae sets out to uncover the truth of what happened to her husband. Her investigation takes her to an upscale club where the proprietor, Myonghee, is not merely supplying booze and girls but also seeking information, for her own purposes, from every drunken businessman who lets corporate secrets slip. As Sae begins to find what she sought, she must ask herself: how well can you truly know the one you love and how is truth shaped by power?

Sae is waiting with two clingy toddlers for her husband to come home from work when she learns of a horrific disaster, the collapse of a massive skyscraper where Jae is an engineer. Minutes, then hours, and then days pass. Speculations of North Korean terrorism and structural instability circulate as possible causes of the Tower's collapse. No one has seen Jae, but things aren't adding up. Jae had told Sae he was working on a swimming pool on the top floor, but reports showed he was in the basement, on a different project. Sae--who met Jae when they were students at an anti-government protest and has relied on him as her guiding and steadying hand--is troubled and suspicious.

Leaving the children with her estranged mother, Sae sets out to uncover the truth of what happened to her husband. Her investigation takes her to an upscale club where the proprietor, Myonghee, is not merely supplying booze and girls but also seeking information, for her own purposes, from every drunken businessman who lets corporate secrets slip. As Sae begins to find what she sought, she must ask herself: how well can you truly know the one you love and how is truth shaped by power?

- At a time when Korean history and culture occupy a place of fascination in the American imagination, Excavations shines a unique spotlight on Korea from a creative writing teacher and professor of Korean pop culture at UC-Berkeley.
- This story is loosely based off the devastating 1995 Sampoong department store collapse in Seoul, South Korea, due to structural failure.
- Excavations is Hannah Michell's US debut. She published The Defections in the UK and France in 2014. In a review for the book, The Guardian said, "Michell reveals herself not only as a perceptive observer of character, but a writer capable of exploring big ideas."

Sae is waiting with two clingy toddlers for her husband to come home from work when she learns of a horrific disaster, the collapse of a massive skyscraper where Jae is an engineer. Minutes, then hours, and then days pass. Speculations of North Korean terrorism and structural instability circulate as possible causes of the Tower's collapse. No one has seen Jae, but things aren't adding up. Jae had told Sae he was working on a swimming pool on the top floor, but reports showed he was in the basement, on a different project. The government was involved, but the contractors were missing. Sae--who met Jae when they were students at an anti-government protest and has relied on him as her guiding and steadying hand--is troubled and suspicious.

Leaving the children with her estranged mother, Sae sets out to uncover the truth of what happened to her husband. Her investigation takes her to an upscale club where the proprietor, Myonghee, is not merely supplying booze and girls but also seeking information, for her own purposes, from every drunken businessman who lets corporate secrets slip. As Sae begins to find what she sought, she must ask herself: How well can you truly know the one you love and how is truth shaped by power?