Author: Kim Wonil
Translated by: Kang Sunok, Melissa Thomson
Publisher: Kitaab International, 2018
Original title: 전갈, 2007
Link to online store *
From the publisher’s website:
In mainstream literature, it is not unusual to find a great novel whose themes are simultaneously universal and local. humanity and the human condition can be represented through characters and events that reflect the environment of an author living in a specific time and place. In the case of The Scorpion, the 13th novel by Kim Won-il, one of Korea’s most acclaimed contemporary writers, the crippling repercussions of childhood trauma- trauma that has occured and still occurs today in every culture across the globe- are shown against the setting of Korea’s tortured history. The Scorpion, can be read both as historical fiction and as a contemporary crime novel.
LKL says:
Kim Won-il looks at 80 years of Korean modern history, presenting us with the less glamorous side of the story in a novel that spans three generations of a Milyang-based family who are swept along in the political and economic tides of the colonial period and Korea’s subsequent reconstruction.
LKL rating: 
. Read our review of this book here.
Entry on Goodreads.com here.
* Where the book is available from a number of sources, they are prioritised as follows: (1) Amazon UK site, or Bookshop.org for the more recent uploads (2) Amazon US site (3) Other sites in US or Europe, including second-hand outlets (4) LTI Korea, where the title is advertised as available from there (5) Onlines stores in Korea. Links to Bookshop.org and Amazon UK site contain an affiliate code which, should you make a purchase, gives a small commission to LKL at no additional cost to you.