Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Book at Bedtime

Audiobooks

Podcasts

Drama

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and world literature

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world

BBC Radio 4 LW

Book at Bedtime: Please Look After Mother

Book at Bedtime: Please Look After Mother: Episode 4

Drama: Classic & Period

Drama: Historical

Please Look After Mother

Episode 4

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, Please Look After Mother, Episode 4

Hyong-chol recognises his mother's hopes for him, and his father returns home.

Hyong-chol recognises his mother's hopes for him, and his father returns to their rural home, to an extraordinary revelation about his missing wife.

Kyung-Sook Shin is arguably Korea's most popular and acclaimed novelist. Please Look After Mother has already sold over 1.5 million copies in Korea and has been reprinted over 100 times. It is now published in 19 countries. 

Please Look After Mother tells the story of So-nyo, an elderly wife and mother, who goes missing on Seoul station. Only with her gone, do her children and her husband begin to appreciate not only all she has done for them, but who she really was and how much they have left unsaid. 

A story in part about the cultural clash between the generation who inhabit modern, urban Seoul and their parents steeped in the rural traditions of Korea, Please Look After Mother is also a universal and humbling reminder of how easy it is to take the people we love for granted. 

In today's episode, Hyong-chol recognises his mother's hopes for him, and his father returns their rural home, to an extraordinary revelation about his missing wife. 

The reader is Sian Thomas
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The translator is Chi-Young Kim
The producer is Di Speirs.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

By Kyung-Sook Shin. Haunting story of a mother's unrecognised love and sacrifice

By Kyung-Sook Shin. Haunting story of a mother's unrecognised love and sacrifice. So-nyo, an elderly wife and mother, goes missing on Seoul station

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Book at Bedtime

Please Look After Mother

Episode 4

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4