Evening Glow

From the publisher’s website:

In 1948 a small town in South Korea was seized by communists. A lowly butcher, enthralled by the idea that the downtrodden could take power, became a hero of the people’, slaughtering opponents with unrivalled cruelty, all witnessed by his eleven year old son, Kapsu. Now forty and living in Seoul, Kapsu visits the town that he turned his back on twenty-nine years ago. During his stay, he relives his childhood as he visits places and meets people associated with his past. This story is about family relationships, reconciliation, healing of wounds and fresh hope. The impact of the division of the country on its people is an important part of modern Korean literature and Kim Won-il is a master of this genre. Hong Chong-son wrote, “There are many novels that deal with the confusion of the post-liberation period. Evening Glow excels all others with finesse of its realism. The vivid and stirring emotion it evokes is quite matchless.”