By Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
The Waiting is the fictional story of Gwija, told by her novelist daughter Jina. When Gwija was 17 years old, after hearing that the Japanese were seizing unmarried girls, her family married her in a hurry to a man she didn't know. Japan fell, Korea gained its independence, and the couple started a family. But peace didn't come. The young family fled south. On the road, while breastfeeding and changing her daughter, Gwija was separated from her husband and son.