London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Greenhouse at the End of the World [forthcoming]

Kim Cho-yeop, who won the Best Writer Award at the Galaxy Awards, China’s science fiction literary award, with his novel collection If We Can’t Go at the Speed of Light, proved that he is loved by readers all over the world, and his first novel, The Greenhouse at the End of the Earth, showed the … [Read More]

If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light [forthcoming]

What makes us struggle to live in a world full of hatred, discrimination and contradictions? Kim Cho-yeop, a science student who makes biosensors, is now a writer who writes novels. Depicting an imaginary world that seems to exist somewhere but nowhere with a unique atmosphere, her first collection of novels, If We Can’t Go at … [Read More]

The Bird that Drinks Tears [forthcoming]

The Bird that Drinks Tears is a profoundly philosophical fantasy full of both tragically diabolical symmetries and laugh-out-loud hilarious moments. Four races with vastly different values, customs, and even lifespans come together to save their world, in which beings build their lives around honoring one goal, one promise, or one value above all else. Through … [Read More]

The Midnight Timetable [forthcoming]

A novel-in-stories narrated by a night shift worker at a mysterious research center, where unsettling encounters ensue with the cursed objects studied there — the manifestations of their owners’ dread, guilt, and past mistakes that become living nightmares. Mazel tov, again, @AntonHur! More Bora Chung! (Also @thesafae ) pic.twitter.com/Ja629LT3Ih — Lawrence Schimel @lawrenceschimel.bsky.social (@lawrenceschimel) March … [Read More]

The Saviour at Night / The Midnight Shift [forthcoming]

They were all alone. But he didn’t want to be alone. Su-yeon lives insensitively as loneliness engulfs her whole body. Wanda was adopted to a faraway country and became a lonely stranger. Nanju, a ‘good daughter’ who has never received help from her family. Suddenly, one day, its existence appears before their eyes like fate. … [Read More]

Blowfish [forthcoming]

For readers of Han Kang and Sheila Heti, an atmospheric, melancholic novel about a successful sculptor who decides to commit suicide by artfully preparing and deliberately eating a lethal dish of blowfish. Blowfish is a postmodern novel in four parts, alternating between the respective stories of a female sculptor and a male architect. Death is … [Read More]

The Second Chance Convenience Store [forthcoming]

In this million-copy international bestseller from Korea, the owner of a corner store takes in an unhoused man who does a good deed, a kind soul whose presence will transform the whole neighborhood—a heartwarming tale of community and redemption reminiscent of the bestselling novels of Matt Haig and Gabrielle Zevin. Dok-go lives in Seoul Station. … [Read More]

A Thousand Blues [forthcoming]

It’s only when we slow down that we can truly experience joy … 2035: In the shadow of a race course, a young woman finds a robot named Coli on a scrap heap, contemplating the sky. Intrigued, she takes Coli into her care and learns how the robot is designed to be a humanoid jockey … [Read More]

Runaway [forthcoming]

The novel follows the narrative of Jae-young, a young woman fleeing an abusive relationship. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she crosses paths with a young single mother cradling her child on an early morning train. She was on her way to her wealthy in-laws, who opposed her marriage. Despite initial wariness, an unexpected … [Read More]

We Do Not Part [forthcoming]

In her biggest book since The Vegetarian, the new novel from Han Kang tells the story of a friendship, taking us on a journey from South Korea into its painful history. One morning in December, Kyungha receives a message from her friend Inseon saying she has been hospitalized in Seoul and asking that Kyungha join her urgently. … [Read More]

To the Kennels, and other stories [forthcoming]

An acclaimed story collection from the author of the Shirley Jackson Award–winning novel The Hole Six elephants bolt from an amusement park and vanish; where they’re found brings back memories of a forgotten dictator. A car ride on a foggy highway at night becomes a drive through hell for a young couple getting away for the … [Read More]

Your Neighbour’s Table [forthcoming]

From the award-winning author of The Old Woman with the Knife comes the thought-provoking story of community and the cultural expectations of motherhood, through four women whose lives intersect in unexpected ways at a government-run apartment complex outside Seoul When Yojin moves with her husband and daughter into the Dream Future Pilot Communal Apartments, she’s … [Read More]

The Rainfall Market [forthcoming]

A rumour surrounds an old house. Send a letter and if it’s chosen a mysterious ticket will be delivered to you. No one is more surprised than Serin when she receives a ticket inviting her to a market that opens once a year when it rains. Here she’s offered to swap her life for another. … [Read More]

Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store [forthcoming]

It has been a year since Penny first walked through the doors of DallerGut Dream Department Store, and surviving a year at the store means one thing… She is now an official employee of the dream industry! She can finally take the express commuter train to the Company District, where all the dream production companies … [Read More]

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 … [Read More]

Blood of the Old Kings

Powered by corpses of sorcerers, the Empire has conquered the world. It claims to have brought peace and stability to its conquered lands, but some see that peace for what it is—a lie—and will give everything to fight it. Loran was desperate for revenge after the Empire killed her family, so much so that she … [Read More]