Kay's Lucky Coin Variety is a coming of age story of young Mary stuck between two cultures. Mary was born in Korea. She can remember the day her family left for a better life in Canada. A variety store in Toronto becomes their life. Mary, her parents and brother, Josh must take their turn working shifts manning the store. Is this the better life her parents dreamed of? Selling cigarettes and newspapers and living in fear of being robbed and losing that days earnings or worse.
Mary begins each morning with a Korean soup prepared by her mother. Then Mary heads to school where she struggles to fit in when there aren't any other Korean children around. It's a struggle to maintain her Korean identity and adapt to her Canadian society. It's a struggle for Mary to meet her parents expectations and dreams they have for her life. She's in love with a white man but questions whether she could grow to love the Korean boy who whispers her birth name.
Kay's Lucky Coin Variety is the first novel for Toronto's Ann Y. K. Choi. It will be on sale May 3rd, 2016.