The Trunk

Meet Noh Inji: thirty years old, five wedding rings so far, and she’s never once been in love.

When Inji takes a job at Wedding & Life, the popular matchmaking service, she never imagines her role will be with NM, their secretive marriage division that rents out ‘field spouses’ for a fixed period to their elite clientele. Just like a real marriage, Inji’s assignments involve a wedding, some sex and a spot of housework. It’s all tailored exactly to the client’s desires – no legal battles, no fights, no emotional baggage.

In no way is Inji interested in finding real love, because accidents happen when you mistakenly assume that you are somehow special. At NM, love is temporary, which is just how Inji likes it.

When one of Inji’s old husbands, a mysterious high-profile music producer, requests her back for another year of marriage, Inji’s own dark past will begin to unravel – as well as the sinister underbelly of the NM management, who will stop at nothing to preserve their reputation – and that of their wealthiest clients …

Kim Ryeo-ryeong was born in 1971 and studied creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. She received the Munhak Dongne Children’s Literature Prize in 2007 for A Seahorse Lives in My Heart, the Ma Hae-song Literary Award in 2007 for The Child Who Brought Memory, and the Changbi Prize for Young Adult Fiction in 2007 for Wandeuk (published by Changbi). She lives near Seoul. The Trunk is the inspiration for a high-profile Korean TV series to be streamed on Netflix this autumn, directed by Kim Kyu-Tae, starring Seo Hyun-li and Gong Yu.

Source: publisher’s website