A short story by Patricia Park from the collection Reader, I Married Him: Stories inspired by Jane Eyre.

In ‘The China from Buenos Aires’, an Argentine Korean student struggles to find her place in New York City.

Edited by Tracy Chevalier, the full collection, Reader, I Married Him, brings together some of the finest and most creative voices in fiction today, to celebrate and salute the strength and lasting relevance of Charlotte Brontë’s game-changing novel and its beloved narrator.

Reviews

Praise for the full collection, READER, I MARRIED HIM:

‘Dazzling’ DAILY MAIL

‘The success of this book owes much to [Chevalier’s] enthusiasm … it’s quite amazing to see the quality of work on show’ EVENING STANDARD

‘A terrific set of stories by some of our leading novelists, each of whom engages with a chosen aspect of Jane Eyre’ THE NEW STATESMAN

‘A clever idea well-executed; a treat for fans of short fiction and for Brontë's many ardent fans’ KIRKUS REVIEWS

‘Exemplary…written by some of today's best female writers’ THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

‘These pieces create a beguiling picture of women and men and desire, in which everyone is searching, like Jane, for happiness and wondering whether marriage is really an answer. The book acts as a prism spreading all kinds of literary and historical refractions, and it’s a reminder that Charlotte Brontë, too, has many sides’ GLOBE AND MAIL

About the author

Patricia Park is the author of the debut novel Re Jane
(Viking/Penguin Random House), a modern-day interpretation
of Jane Eyre set in New York and Seoul. She was a
Fulbright scholar and has written for the New York Times,
Guardian, Salon, Daily Beast and others. A self-proclaimed
“Eyre-head”, Park first read Brontë’s classic as a twelve-year-
old in Queens, NY, and has since wondered what if,
Reader, she hadn’t married him. Park is at work on her
second novel, set in Buenos Aires.