the color of water

the color of water
the color trilogy #2
kim dong hwa
graphic novels/romance/ya
first second
published 2009

When Ehwa goes to the town festival, she meets a handsome young wrestler named Duksam who’s eager to catch her eye. After he wins the festival wrestling championship, he and Ehwa begin to meet, sneaking spare moments to be together. But a shadow falls on their romance when Master Cho sends Duksam away and asks for Ehwa’s hand in marriage himself It is then that Ehwa discovers the pain of heartbreak – and that love is always complicated.

Ehwa meets a new boy who's not afraid to speak his mind and show his affections.  Still being so innocent she doesn't know what to make of him, but quickly falls in love.  But then enter the evil Master Cho!

This is such a beautiful story about first loves and a mother's love for her daughter, especially poignant in this time period in Korea.  Since girls went to live with their husband's family and left their own families behind there is much more bittersweetness in Ehwa's mother's longings for a good husband for her daughter.

The art is just so beautiful.  So simple and clean and stunning.  So much beauty it's hard to concentrate on the words sometimes.

Kim Dong Hwa ends The Color of Water on a bit of a cliffhanger and I had to force myself to go to sleep instead of stay up all night to finish The Color of Heaven!