Excerpt from Tailbone by Che Yeun, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

okay. when are you coming back? i made a fresh pot of rice in the rice cooker so eat that when you come home tonight just eat it all

fine

your father can't find out

just handle it don't be so weak

i made new rice for you

dont be so weak be strong

She didn't respond.

be strong, I texted again.

I sat there, staring at my phone, waiting for the beep. I felt my mother at home, lying in her bed, with only the flash of my text messages to light up the stillness of her room, while she waited for my father to come home. Not so wasted that he would bother the neighbors, just only wasted enough to bother her, that was all she asked for. And then I squeezed my eyes shut so that I wouldn't have to see any more.

Excerpted from Tailbone by Che Yeun. Copyright © 2026 by Che Yeun. Excerpted by permission of Bloomsbury Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.