In six masterly stories, Adam Johnson delves deep into love and loss, natural disasters, the influence of technology, and how the political shapes the personal. He returns to his signature subject, North Korea, in the title story, which depicts two defectors from Pyongyang who are trying to adapt to their new lives in Seoul, while one cannot forget the woman he left behind. FORTUNE SMILES gives voice to the perspectives we don’t often hear, while offering a new way of looking at the world.

Pak Jun Do is the son of a lost mother and an influential father who runs a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Jun Do comes to the attention of state superiors, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return: he boldly takes on the role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves.