Korean Literary Fiction

From the bestselling author of Almond, The Devil Wears Prada meets The Office in this witty, humane, and ultimately transformative story of a group of young workers who rebel against the status quo. Jihye is an ordinary woman who has never been extraordinary. In her administrative job at the...

Yeongju did everything she was supposed to, go to university, marry a decent man, get a respectable job. Then it all fell apart. Burned out, Yeongju abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career, divorces her husband, and follows her dream. She opens a bookshop. In a quaint neighbourhood in Seoul, surrounded by books, Yeongju and her customers take refuge. From the lonely barista to the unhappily married housewife, and the writer who sees something special in Yeongju - they all have disappointments in their past.

Brought to you by Penguin. A sweeping story of three generations of women who cross continents and decades to find truth, forgiveness and compassion. Incheon, 1985. A nameless baby is born in a minbak in South Korea and vanishes nine days later. London, 2008. When tragedy strikes, Hana faces...

Brought to you by Penguin. The unforgettable novel from Booker International Prize winner Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian. In this compelling and beautifully-patterned novel, Han Kang tells the interwoven stories of a Greek instructor who is losing his sight and a woman who refuses to speak...

On 25 June, 1950, the invasion of South Korea by the Communist North launched one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last century. The seemingly limitless power of the Chinese-backed North was thrown against the ferocious firepower of the UN-backed South in a war that can be seen today as the stark prelude to Vietnam.

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An epic journey into the heart of North Korea and the world’s most mysterious dictatorship. “Imagine Charles Dickens paying a visit to Pyongyang, and you see the canvas on which [Adam] Johnson is painting here.”—The...

Can’t I Go Instead follows the lives of the daughter of a Korean nobleman and her maidservant in the early 20th-century. When the daughter’s suitor is arrested as a Korean Independence activist, and she is implicated during the investigation, she is quickly forced into marriage to one of her father’s Japanese employees and shipped off to the United States. At the same time, her maidservant is sent in her mistress’s place to be a comfort woman to the Japanese Imperial army. Years of hardship, survival and even happiness follow.

Brought to you by Penguin. They’ve never met, but this is the way it is supposed to be: they belong to each other. Lonely college student Minnie feels invisible until she stumbles upon HOURglass: America’s new K-pop boyband obsession. Soon she is memorising the lyrics to every song and...

ONE OF THE ATLANTIC’S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS The debut novel from critically acclaimed and New York Times–bestselling author of My Year Abroad and the highly anticipated A Tender Age In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent...

'A harrowing, off-beat novella about the ways in which young teenagers process trauma -- think MY DARK VANESSA meets EARTHLINGS. A truly unique gut-punch of a read' Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller 'The Crustacean isn't a novel, it's an obsession . . . I would kill and die for this...

They were the young ones, the bright ones, the ones with the dreams. From the Nazi-prowled wastes of North Africa to the bloody corridors of Europe, they honorably answered the call. War - it was their duty, their job, their life. They marched off as boys and they came back - those who made it - as soldiers and professionals forged in the heat of battle....