Detective Yi Chang needs another miracle. Ten years ago his sister was healed of her deadly cancer by a mysterious cult leader, but now his young niece has inherited the same disease. The only lead Yi Chang has is the body of a murder victim found in an abandoned building in the Korean seaside. The … [Read More]
Booklist: Korean literature in translation (page 3)
Teddy Bears Never Die
A young girl teams up with a hatchet-wielding teddy bear to solve the mystery of her mother’s murder and get her revenge in this campy slasher from Cho Yeeun, a rising star in Korean horror. Hwa-young never believed that her mother was murdered in a mass-cyanide attack at the luxury apartment complex where she worked. … [Read More]
Narrow Rooms
A romantic thriller exploring the dark corners of human desire and isolation with quiet eeriness Is a fresh start truly possible? Or will society’s strictures and your own impulses keep re-creating the same messed-up relationships in every narrow room you enter? Choi Seongmin’s Narrow Rooms follows a young woman who leaves her rural hometown to study in … [Read More]
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light
From Korean science fiction author Kim Cho-yeop, a stunning and poignant collection of literary speculative fiction stories that explore the complexities of identity, love, death, and the search for life’s meaning, perfect for fans of Exhalation and The Paper Menagerie. In If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Korean science fiction superstar Kim … [Read More]
Project V
STEMinist mecha fantasy meets reality television in this high-stakes novel from the author of A Magical Girl Retires — a wildly imaginative tale of sibling bonds, unexpected friendship, and an existential quest to understand what it means to be human. Robotics student Kim Wooram, runner-up at the World Gigantic Mechanics Olympiad, is a world-class pilot and … [Read More]
Mrs Shim Is a Killer
A gripping tale of love, food and one woman’s unconventional quest to support her family. I am no ordinary ajumma. I am a killer When Mrs Shim – widowed, unemployed, with two children at home and a fridge to fill – answers a job ad at the Smile Detective Agency, she boosts its fortunes forever. … [Read More]
The Legend of Lady Byeoksa
A tale of star-crossed lovers, political intrigue and mysticism inspired by Korean mythology and set in the Joseon dynasty. ‘Whether I remember or not, it seems I am destined to love you.’ Lady Seomun Bin has a secret: she is a cross-dressing byeoksa, or ghost-stalker. Born with the unenviable ability to see spirits, she is … [Read More]
The Memory Bookshop
For lovers of The Midnight Library and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, discover a spellbinding novel about a mysterious bookshop that exists outside of time and space, where the past is only a page away… If you’re lost, you’ll find The Memory Bookshop Where the shelves are endless. The books, strangely familiar. And where memories are bound in … [Read More]
With the Heart of a Ghost: Stories
With the Heart of a Ghost is a debut collection of eight fantastical stories translated by Chi-Young Kim (Whale) that explore feelings unseen, unconveyed, unexplainable. The funny, meditative characters who inhabit this book are pulled far from their ordinary daily routines to stare straight into their own sorrows, however they manifest. Ghosts and otherworldly occurrences … [Read More]
Holy Boy
One idol. Four fans. Worship’s never been bloodier. Yosep is a K-pop idol with millions of adoring fans. But for four of them, a poster on the wall just won’t cut it. They have a plan—a perfect, foolproof plan—to get their idol all to themselves. Kidnapping Yosep seemed like the ultimate act of love. But … [Read More]
Simple Heart
In this moving exploration of dual identities reminiscent of Past Lives, a Korean writer’s pregnancy raises questions about her own childhood abandonment. Nana, a Korean playwright, was adopted as a child by a French couple. Before she was Nana, she was Esther Pak, a girl growing up in a Korean orphanage. And before she was Esther … [Read More]
Artificial Truth
From J. M. Lee, a bestselling phenomenon in Korea, comes a haunting and mind-bending novel about the revolutionary possibilities of AI and the infinite mysteries of what it means to be human. In the virtual city of Alegria, fantasies are made real, innumerable lifetimes are lived, and even death itself is a survivable experience. An … [Read More]
Perfect Happiness
In this propulsive thriller, master of crime and suspense fiction You-Jeong Jeong, author of The Good Son, takes us to the Korean countryside in a domestic nightmare centered around the life and goals of Yuna Shin: wife, mother, sister–and covert narcissist. Everyone in Yuna’s life knows to tread carefully in her presence. Her husband dreads the … [Read More]
A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang
When twenty-seven-year-old Yeon-hwa loses her grandmother, enigmatic proprietor of the Hwawoldang, she decides to respect her wishes by keeping the store going for at least a month, between the hours of 10pm and midnight. She has never learnt to make the traditional desserts herself, and hopes to learn more about her grandmother. On her very … [Read More]
The Moon Glow Bookshop
What if you could turn the pages of your own life, like the pages of your favourite book? Somewhere along the ordinary alleys you pass by every day, a mysterious shop appears between all the other familiar buildings. Surely, you didn’t see it yesterday or the day before. A large sign reads ‘The Moon Glow … [Read More]
Petty Lies
For readers who revelled in the toxic obsession of Butter and the addictive horror of Bat Eater Dear Jiwon, I’m writing to you regarding the murder of your son… Revenge is perhaps best served by letter. But letters get answered. And when a young tutor takes up the pen to write to her former employer … [Read More]