This is the first collection of stories by An Jisook, who debuted in 2005 with The Years of a Bari, which went on to receive the Silla Literary Award. The collection comprises seven short stories that the writer wrote over the course of a decade. The characters in the stories all go through life embracing and bearing their own problems, big and small. None lives a glamorous life. The way they live day by day, adapting to reality is convincingly depicted. Here, we have stories of women working in part-time jobs, contracted positions, and in outsourcing firms, as well as women hurt in the home and at work. The writer faithfully captures reality with stories that we could encounter around us.

Greenling and Gnats describe the absurdities and contradictions that arise in the workplace. A Light-Red Brightness Missing in Me, the titular story, delivers the most hopeful message in this book, as it portrays a woman working on a temporary contract, trying to live her own life. In Blue Crab, the main character transforms after being hurt by her family, and the story progresses in a style unique to the writer. A Stalker’s Grammar portrays a disabled woman neglected by this world.

Foot Corn tells the story of a daughter who is isolated because of a son that the parents adopted. The Years of a Bari depicts the life of a mother struggling to get by, the turbulent life of a woman who is forced to sacrifice, unable to put herself first.