Lee Hyoseok's Books

Endless Blue Sky

By: Hyoseok Lee

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Set in 1940s colonial Korea and Japanese-occupied Manchuria, Endless Blue Sky tells the love story between Korean writer Ilma and Russian dancer Nadia. The novel is both a thrilling melodrama set in glamorous locations that would shortly be tragically ravaged by war, and a bold piece of writing espousing new ideas on love, marriage, and race. Reading this tale of cosmopolitan socialites finding their way in a new world of luxury hotels, racetracks, and cabarets, one gets a sense of the enthusiasm for the future that some felt in Korea at the time. Honford Star's edition of Endless Blue Sky, the first in English, includes an introduction and explanatory notes by translator Steven Capener.

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Page Count

259

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Honford Star

Published Date

ISBN 10

1999791258

ISBN 13

9781999791254

Endless Blue Sky

By: Hyoseok Lee

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Endless Blue Sky

By: Hyoseok Lee

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259

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Honford Star

Published Date

ISBN 10

1999791258

ISBN 13

9781999791254

The Sick Rose

By: Lee Hyoseok

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The Sick Rose

By: Lee Hyoseok

“The Sick Rose,” published in Samcheonli munhak (Three Thousand Li of Literature) in 1938, is the first of two short stories that Lee Hyoseok names using the title of a poem in English. This one, of course, is named after a poem by William Blake. The other is “Leaves of Grass” titled after Walt Whitman’s seminal collection. Both short stories borrow themes from the poems they are named after. In the case of “The Sick Rose” the theme is prostitution and the venereal disease that can accompany the practice. Typical of Lee’s later literature, this story uses the theme of sex as a means to critique what he saw as a hypocritical sense of morality in Korean society.

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Literature Translation Institute of Korea

Published Date

ISBN 10

8993360529

ISBN 13

9788993360523

Harbin

By: Lee Hyo-seok

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Harbin

By: Lee Hyo-seok

“Harbin,” published in the literary magazine Munjang in October 1940, is the leading work from his later years and has recently attracted attention. On top of everything, this short story impressively reveals the problematic circumstances around the 1940s and Lee’s assessment of his own self-awareness. The dialogue between the protagonist who considers himself a skeptic and a cabaret worker, Eura, who says, “I always think I just want to die,” is the main storyline of this short story. This work effectively describes the desolate inner sentiments, feelings, and skepticism of the protagonist who travels to Harbin and the sorrowful sentimentality of the city. In addition, “Harbin” impressively portrays that the Second World War, which broke out in 1939, greatly influenced the city of Harbin, which was located in Northeast China at the time. This is evident especially in the lines describing the closed French and Dutch Consulates on Kitai Tverskaya, the main street of Harbin where Russian stores and Western style buildings are located. The theme of this work seems to be the sorrow of an intellect under colonization, feeling only fundamentally skeptical and depressed, even while conversing with a beautiful waitress at the exotic Harbin’s hotel, cabaret, and café where Tchaikovsky’s chamber music plays.

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Literature Translation Institute of Korea

Published Date

ISBN 10

8993360294

ISBN 13

9788993360295

Pomegranate

By: Lee Hyoseok

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Pomegranate

By: Lee Hyoseok

“Pomegranate” is one of Lee Hyoseok’s shorter pieces of fiction. It follows a plot pattern that became more evident in his later fiction (that written after 1935 or so) in that the protagonist is a woman who suffers from the patriarchal strictures of the Confucian culture of the times. It is implied that the protagonist Jaehee becomes pregnant at the hands of one of her schoolmates and later is pushed into marrying a man she doesn’t love because the union might help her father’s failing business. The man she marries turns out to be a swindler, and her father’s business fails even sooner as the result of his malfeasance. The plot also contains another of Lee’s consistent themes: an unrequited love.

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Literature Translation Institute of Korea

Published Date

ISBN 10

8993360731

ISBN 13

9788993360738

The Global ‘Orphan’ Adoption System

South Korea’s Impact on its Origin and Development

By: Lee Kyung-eun

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The Global ‘Orphan’ Adoption System

South Korea’s Impact on its Origin and Development

By: Lee Kyung-eun

S. Korea is one of the major sending countries in the “transnational experiment of child care”, invented by the human community after World War II. Among all sending countries of adoptees, S. Korea is actually the country where the practice of inter-country adoption had its genesis. The fundamental source of power which sustains inter-country adoption practices is, as Dr. Nigel Cantwell mentions in his endorsement, the pervasive “glowing image” of adoption. In other words, the dominant perception of adoption as salvation is a key obstacle which prevents a more accurate mapping of the reality of inter-country adoption. In her new book, Dr. Kyung-eun Lee wields international laws as her surgical blade in order to dissect the practice of inter-country adoption from S. Korea. She uncovers the fact that the S. Korean government and private adoption agencies as partners have made “orphans” systematically, widely, but ironically within legal boundaries. As a result, adoptees’ human rights have been violated on a massive scale. Dr. Lee points out the negligence of the international society which was aware of Korea’s failure in complying with the international legal system. She reminds the international community, especially those of the receiving countries, of their responsibility to demand that sending countries such as S. Korea enhance their legal systems in order to protect child rights. Growing requests from adult international adoptees to find their identities and information on their adoption reveals much evidence that adoptees’ rights were violated by the inter-country adoption system. Many countries have begun to investigate past abuses and malpractices within the adoption system, and are finding a way to recover adoptees’ rights from the unethical and illegal practices which have taken place in the past, and which are still inherent within the system. This book should serve as invaluable guidance to government officials, legal experts, researchers and adoption-related stakeholders who wish to transform the current global “orphan” adoption system into the alternative care system for the best interests of the child.

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Page Count

408

Publisher

펜립

Published Date

ISBN 10

8996879886

ISBN 13

9788996879886

Gwangju Uprising

The Rebellion for Democracy in South Korea

By: Hwang Sok-yong,Lee Jae-Eui,Jeon Yong-Ho

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Gwangju Uprising

The Rebellion for Democracy in South Korea

By: Hwang Sok-yong,Lee Jae-Eui,Jeon Yong-Ho

The essential account of the South Korean 1980 pro-democracy rebellion On May 18, 1980, student activists gathered in the South Korean city of Gwangju to protest the coup d’état and the martial law government of General Chun Doo-hwan. The security forces responded with unmitigated violence. Over the next ten days hundreds of students, activists, and citizens were arrested, tortured, and murdered. The events of the uprising shaped over a decade of resistance to the repressive South Korean regime and paved the way for the country’s democratization. This fresh translation by Slin Jung of a text compiled from eyewitness testimonies presents a gripping and comprehensive account of both the events of the uprising and the political situation that preceded and followed the violence of that period. Included is a preface by acclaimed Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong. Gwangju Uprising is a vital resource for those interested in East Asian contemporary history and the global struggle for democracy.

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Page Count

513

Publisher

Verso Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1788737148

ISBN 13

9781788737142

Wild Apricots

By: Lee Hyoseok

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Wild Apricots

By: Lee Hyoseok

Lee Hyoseok’s story “Wild Apricots” was published in the literary journal Jogwang in 1937. The work is noteworthy for its use of themes that pushed the limits of the social conventions of the times. The story involves infidelity, betrayal, female homoeroticism, and superstitious folk beliefs. In addition, Lee clearly mounts a critique of vested male privilege that he would develop more fully in later works. Interestingly, together with his critique of the backwardness of rural society, Lee also weaves a subtle critique of the increasingly oppressive nature of Japanese rule as the dark clouds of militarism and fascism spread across the horizon.

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Literature Translation Institute of Korea

Published Date

ISBN 10

8993360510

ISBN 13

9788993360516

Four Seasons

By: Han-Jae Lee

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Four Seasons

By: Han-Jae Lee

Four Seasons By: Han-Jae Lee This essay collection recounts the modern and contemporary history of Korea through the life of the author. Korea was a poorly developed country that was devastated during the Japanese colonial period in the early 20th century, followed by liberation, and the Korean War. In the process, there was a time when many Korean people gathered their strength to create something out of nothing in order to escape poverty. And now, Korea is standing shoulder to shoulder with developed countries. Korea has achieved not only political democratization and remarkable economic development in a relatively short period of time in recent decades, but also Korean literature is making remarkable progress toward globalization in many ways. The following essays describe various elements of rural life in Korea as a child, life in a large city in Seoul as a youth and living abroad as an adult. Before writing this essay collection, he compiled seven poetry and essay collections in Korean and English, and published them in Korea and the United States. Advance praise for Four Seasons Han-Jae Lee’s, Four Seasons is an engaging collection of essays that recount the author’s experiences as a native Korean coming of age in a poor rural area, going on to lead a prosperous career as a working man for a large corporation, fathering children, traveling around the globe and spending time in the United States. Lee’s observations about both past and present life are touching and astute. A poet at heart, his reflections are tender and poignant, as he covers a wide range of topics, from tending a cow as a young man to his influences in literature and writing, to the old customs in Korea to new information technologies. Relationships, both intimate and professional are examined. Reading Four Seasons cover to cover, you will be entertained throughout. – Magdalena Montagne, poet-teacher The Four Seasons is a distillation of the author’s life. In providing vignettes of his life both in prose and poetry, Han-Jae Lee presents the reader with the thoughts and impressions of a life rich in experience tempered by wisdom. This will not be a book that you only read once, but several times because you will always find something new and instructive in its pages. – Alexander E. Braun, author of The Adventure of the Maiden Voyage

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262

Publisher

Dorrance Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 13

9798887293219

Drifting House

By: Krys Lee

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Drifting House

By: Krys Lee

Spanning Korea and the United States, from the postwar era to contemporary times, the stories presented in "Drifting House" illuminate a people torn between the traumas of their collective past and the indignities and sorrows of their present.

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226

Publisher

Penguin Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0143122932

ISBN 13

9780143122937

Can't I Go Instead

By: Lee Geum-yi

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Can't I Go Instead

By: Lee Geum-yi

Two women's lives and identities are intertwined—through World War II and the Korean War—revealing the harsh realities of class division in the early part of the 20th century. “Lee Geum-yi has a gift for taking little-known embers of history and transforming them into moving, compelling, and uplifting stories.” —Heather Morris, #1 New York Times bestselling author 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 follows. In the aftermath of WWII, the women make their way home, where they must reckon with the tangled lives they've led, in an attempt to reclaim their identities, and find their place in an independent Korea. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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Page Count

313

Publisher

Forge Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1250859573

ISBN 13

9781250859570

The Investigation

By: Jung-myung Lee

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The Investigation

By: Jung-myung Lee

Jung-Myung Lee's extraordinary The Investigation, translated by Chi-Young Kim, is set in a period of Korean history that isn't widely known in the West . . . a heart-wrenching novel with many unexpected twists.' – Sunday Times Longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Fukuoka Prison, 1944. Beyond the prison walls the war rages; inside a man is found brutally murdered. Yuichi Watanabe, a young guard with a passion for reading, is ordered to investigate. The victim, Sugiyama – also a guard – was feared and despised throughout the prison and inquiries have barely begun when a powerful inmate confesses. But Watanabe is unconvinced; and as he interrogates both the suspect and Yun Dong-ju, a talented Korean poet, he begins to realize that the fearsome guard was not all he appeared to be . . . As Watanabe unravels Sugiyama's final months, he begins to discover what is really going on inside this dark and violent institution, which few inmates survive: a man who will stop at nothing to dig his way to freedom; a governor whose greed knows no limits; a little girl whose kite finds her an unlikely friend. And Yun Dong-ju – the poet whose works hold such beauty they can break the hardest of hearts. As the war moves towards its devastating close and bombs rain down upon the prison, Watanabe realizes that he must find a way to protect Yun Dong-ju, no matter what it takes. This decision will lead the young guard back to the investigation – where he will discover a devastating truth . . . At once a captivating mystery and an epic lament for lost freedom and humanity in the darkest of times, The Investigation – inspired by a true story – is a sweeping, gripping tale perfect for fans of The Shadow of the Wind. 'It's a thriller, and a war story, and so much more besides. I tore through the last 100 pages, my heart literally racing at times. An intense, captivating achievement, inspired by reality.' - Matt Haig, author of The Midnight Library

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Page Count

276

Publisher

Pan Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0230768733

ISBN 13

9780230768734

8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster

By: Mirinae Lee

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8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster

By: Mirinae Lee

Korean edition of [8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster] by Mirinae Lee. Longlisted for the Women's Prize in Fiction. Joining the acclaimed ranks of [Pachinko] and [A Woman is No Man], a riveting and genre-bending debut of love and survival, set in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Korean edition translated by Hae Yeong Jeong.

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ISBN 13

9791171712335

Olympic Boulevard

By: Philip Onho Lee

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Olympic Boulevard

By: Philip Onho Lee

Olympic Boulevard is a full-length novel by Philip Onho Lee that depicts the joys and sorrows of Korean immigrants in the United States. The story centers on a group of Koreans who emigrated in 1981 to build a new life and pursue the American Dream. Drawing on his experiences as a first-generation immigrant, Lee vividly depicts the ups and downs of Koreans' struggle to adjust to American life through lively storytelling and humor. This version was rendered into English by Korean-American translator John Cha.

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Seoul Selection USA, Incorporated

Published Date

ISBN 10

1624120709

ISBN 13

9781624120701

The Evening Hero

By: Marie Myung-Ok Lee

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The Evening Hero

By: Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Dr. Yungman Kwak is in the twilight of his life. Every day for the last fifty years, he has brushed his teeth, slipped on his shoes, and headed to Horse Breath's General Hospital, where, as an obstetrician, he treats the women and babies ... Yungman's life is thrown into chaos--the hospital abruptly closes, his wife refuses to spend time with him, and his son is busy investing in a struggling health start-up. Yungman faces a choice--he must choose to hide his secret from his family and friends or confess and potentially lose all he's built. He begins to question the very assumptions on which his life is built--the so-called American dream"--

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Page Count

448

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476735077

ISBN 13

9781476735078

A Gesture Life

A Novel

By: Chang-rae Lee

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A Gesture Life

A Novel

By: Chang-rae Lee

The second novel from the critically acclaimed New York Times–bestselling author Chang-rae Lee. His remarkable debut novel was called "rapturous" (The New York Times Book Review), "revelatory" (Vogue), and "wholly innovative" (Kirkus Reviews). It was the recipient of six major awards, including the prestigious Hemingway Foundation/PEN award. Now Chang-rae Lee has written a powerful and beautifully crafted second novel that leaves no doubt about the extraordinary depth and range of his talent. A Gesture Life is the story of a proper man, an upstanding citizen who has come to epitomize the decorous values of his New York suburban town. Courteous, honest, hardworking, and impenetrable, Franklin Hata, a Japanese man of Korean birth, is careful never to overstep his boundaries and to make his neighbors comfortable in his presence. Yet as his story unfolds, precipitated by the small events surrounding him, we see his life begin to unravel. Gradually we learn the mystery that has shaped the core of his being: his terrible, forbidden love for a young Korean Comfort Woman when he served as a medic in the Japanese army during World War II. In A Gesture Life, Chang-rae Lee leads us with dazzling control through a taut, suspenseful story about love, family, and community—and the secrets we harbor. As in Native Speaker, he writes of the ways outsiders conform in order to survive and the price they pay for doing so. It is a haunting, breathtaking display of talent by an acclaimed young author.

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National Geographic Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1573228281

ISBN 13

9781573228282

The Surrendered

By: Chang-rae Lee

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The Surrendered

By: Chang-rae Lee

Read an essay by Chang-rae Lee here. The bestselling, award-winning writer of Native Speaker, Aloft, and My Year Abroad returns with his biggest, most ambitious novel yet: a spellbinding story of how love and war echo through an entire lifetime. With his three critically acclaimed novels, Chang-rae Lee has established himself as one of the most talented writers of contemporary literary fiction. Now, with The Surrendered, Lee has created a book that amplifies everything we've seen in his previous works, and reads like nothing else. It is a brilliant, haunting, heartbreaking story about how love and war inalterably change the lives of those they touch. June Han was only a girl when the Korean War left her orphaned; Hector Brennan was a young GI who fled the petty tragedies of his small town to serve his country. When the war ended, their lives collided at a Korean orphanage where they vied for the attentions of Sylvie Tanner, the beautiful yet deeply damaged missionary wife whose elusive love seemed to transform everything. Thirty years later and on the other side of the world, June and Hector are reunited in a plot that will force them to come to terms with the mysterious secrets of their past, and the shocking acts of love and violence that bind them together. As Lee unfurls the stunning story of June, Hector, and Sylvie, he weaves a profound meditation on the nature of heroism and sacrifice, the power of love, and the possibilities for mercy, salvation, and surrendering oneself to another. Combining the complex themes of identity and belonging of Native Speaker and A Gesture Life with the broad range, energy, and pure storytelling gifts of Aloft, Chang-rae Lee has delivered his most ambitious, exciting, and unforgettable work yet. It is a mesmerizing novel, elegantly suspenseful and deeply affecting.

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Page Count

380

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101185988

ISBN 13

9781101185988

A Song for Lonely Wolves

A Dark Detective Story of Old Korea

By: Lee Evie

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A Song for Lonely Wolves

A Dark Detective Story of Old Korea

By: Lee Evie

BOOK ONE OF THE JOSEON DETECTIVE SERIESA missing woman. A frozen body.A damo slave girl, determined to solve the mystery.Joseon Dynasty, Korea, 1590.At the foot of a jagged mountain range, an isolated village lies in muddy snow and a young noblewoman vanishes from her bed in the dead of night. Rumours of a fearsome ghost with no face echo in her wake. Dan Ji arrives into the long winding valley with her own ghosts, determined to prove her worth as an investigator and solve the mystery. She is a damo, a tea servant of the police force, tasked with cooking and cleaning for her superiors and sometimes, with performing undercover police work.With only the officer in charge on her side - a hard young man with a bloody past and secrets of his own ¬- Dan Ji must convince the local Magistrate and his provincial policemen to trust her judgement. Yet with mistrust brewing, the investigation slowly grinds to a halt. Until a frozen body is unearthed from the deep snows of the mountain range.As a damo of Joseon's police force, it is not within Dan Ji's nature to leave a mystery unsolved.The threads run far and wide.A dark historical mystery set in old Korea.

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Page Count

306

Publisher

Joseon Detective

Published Date

ISBN 10

0648732339

ISBN 13

9780648732334

Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)

By: Min Jin Lee

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Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)

By: Min Jin Lee

A New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an "extraordinary epic" of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle). NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 * A USA TODAY TOP TEN OF 2017 * JULY PICK FOR THE PBS NEWSHOUR-NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB NOW READ THIS * FINALIST FOR THE 2018DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE* WINNER OF THE MEDICI BOOK CLUB PRIZE Roxane Gay's Favorite Book of 2017, Washington Post NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER "There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones." In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history. *Includes reading group guide*

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Page Count

604

Publisher

Grand Central Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1455563919

ISBN 13

9781455563913

Snowy Day and Other Stories

By: Lee Chang-dong

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Snowy Day and Other Stories

By: Lee Chang-dong

The first story collection published in English by Lee Chang-dong, one of South Korea’s most celebrated and influential literary and cinematic figures Much like Lee Chang-dong’s internationally renowned films (Burning, Secret Sunshine, Poetry), these brilliant, unsettling tales, originally published in Korea in the 1980s and now translated into English for the first time, investigate themes of injustice, betrayal, and terror—on both an intimate and national scale. Chang-dong writes deeply and hauntingly about barriers between family, the powerful and the vulnerable, conformists and rebels. In the title story, drawn from the author’s own memories of serving in the South Korean military, the class divide between a university-educated private and a working-class corporal serving sentry duty together one snowy night leads to tragic consequences. In “There’s a Lot of Shit in Nokcheon,” the psychological violence that two brothers enact on each other over the course of a lifetime captures the darkness and paranoia that pervaded Korea in the 1980s, as the country struggled toward democratic rule. And in the novella-length “A Lamp in the Sky,” a young woman’s brutal interrogation at the hands of the police reveals the series of increasingly troubling decisions that led her to this moment. Is she innocent or guilty? In the end, even she cannot say. Snowy Day and Other Stories introduces English readers to a master storyteller.

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Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

0593657268

ISBN 13

9780593657263

The Boy Who Escaped Paradise

A Novel

By: J. M. Lee

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The Boy Who Escaped Paradise

A Novel

By: J. M. Lee

An astonishing story of the mysteries, truths, and deceptions that follow the odyssey of Ahn Gilmo, a young math savant, as he escapes from the most isolated country in the world and searches for the only family he has left An unidentified body is discovered in New York City, with numbers and symbols are written in blood near the corpse. Gilmo, a North Korean national who interprets the world through numbers, formulas, and mathematical theories, is arrested on the spot. Angela, a CIA operative, is assigned to gain his trust and access his unique thought-process. The enigmatic Gilmo used to have a quite life back in Pyongyang. But when his father, a preeminent doctor is discovered to be a secret Christian, he is subsequently incarcerated along with Gilmo, in a political prison overseen by a harsh, cruel warden. There, he meets the spirited Yeong-ae, who becomes his only friend. When Yeong-ae manages to escape, Gilmo flees to track her down. He uses his peculiar gifts to navigate betrayal and the criminal underworld of east Asia—a world wholly alien to everything he's ever known. In The Boy Who Escaped Paradise, celebrated author J. M. Lee delves into a hidden world filled with vivid characters trapped by ideology, greed, and despair. Gilmo's saga forces the reader to question the line between good and evil, truth and falsehood, captivity and freedom.

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Page Count

193

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1681772930

ISBN 13

9781681772936

Somebody's Daughter

A Novel

By: Marie Myung-Ok Lee

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Somebody's Daughter

A Novel

By: Marie Myung-Ok Lee

A "heartwarming and heartbreaking"* story of a Korean American girl's search for her roots Somebody's Daughter is the story of nineteen-year-old Sarah Thorson, who was adopted as a baby by a Lutheran couple in the Midwest. After dropping out of college, she decides to study in Korea and becomes more and more intrigued by her Korean heritage, eventually embarking on a crusade to find her birth mother. Paralleling Sarah's story is that of Kyung-sook, who was forced by difficult circumstances to let her baby be swept away from her immediately after birth, but who has always longed for her lost child.

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314

Publisher

Beacon Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807083895

ISBN 13

9780807083895

8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster

A Novel

By: Mirinae Lee

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8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster

A Novel

By: Mirinae Lee

Joining the acclaimed ranks of Pachinko and A Woman is No Man, a riveting and genre-bending debut of love and survival, set in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Life near the North Korean border is a zero-sum game, an ongoing battle in which you either win or you lose. This dangerous, shadowed netherworld is home to an unforgettable woman known only as the “trickster.” Inspired by the story of Lee’s great aunt, one of the oldest women to escape alone from North Korea, 8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster consists of eight dark and spellbinding chapters that follow this remarkable character and her family as they struggle to survive during the most turbulent times of modern Korean history. Mirinae Lee’s trickster is a shapeshifter—throughout the course of these interconnected chapters she is a slave, an escape artist, a murderer, a terrorist, a spy, a lover, and a mother—a woman who must often choose the unthinkable to survive war and conquest in Korea. Her story is a beguiling, complex tale of love and survival that will keep you riveted—and speculating—until the very end thanks to Lee’s brilliant talent for sleight of hand. A fascinating look at survival, trauma, and family, 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster is an incredible literary debut from a bright new talent.

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278

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HarperCollins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0063240440

ISBN 13

9780063240445

A Gesture Life

By: Chang-rae Lee

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A Gesture Life

By: Chang-rae Lee

Franklin Hata, Korean by birth but raised in Japan, is an outsider in American society, but he embodies the values of the town he calls his own, he is polite and keeps himself to himself. The reasons for his solitude and self-control are laid bare as the mystery of Hata's wartime past is revealed.

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356

Published Date

ISBN 10

1862073406

ISBN 13

9781862073401

The Starlet and the Spy

A Novel

By: Ji-min Lee

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The Starlet and the Spy

A Novel

By: Ji-min Lee

“This story of the unlikely meeting of two vulnerable women is a beautifully woven page turner. The battle-weary woman and the pin-up girl who meet, connect, separate: each changed by the brief union.” --Heather Morris, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz A dazzling work of historical fiction, based on true events, about two women who seem the most unlikely to ever meet: Alice, a Korean war survivor and translator for the American forces in Seoul and Marilyn Monroe, who is visiting Korea on a four-day USO tour. February 1954. Although the Korean War armistice was signed a year ago, most citizens of Seoul still battle to return to some semblance of normalcy. Conditions are dismal. Children beg for food, and orphanages are teeming. Alice J. Kim, a Korean translator and typist for the American forces still sanctioned in the city, yearns for the life she used to live before her country was torn apart. Then Alice’s boss makes an announcement—the American movie star Marilyn Monroe will be visiting Korea on a four-day USO tour, and Alice has been chosen as her translator. Though intrigued, Alice has few expectations of the job—what could she and a beautiful actress at the peak of her fame possibly have to talk about? Yet the Marilyn she meets, while just as dazzling and sensual as Alice expected, is also surprisingly approachable. As Marilyn’s visit unfolds, Alice is forced into a reckoning with her own painful past. Moving and mesmerizing, The Starlet and the Spy is a beautiful portrayal of unexpected kinship between two very different women, and of the surprising connections that can change, or even save, a life.

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Page Count

165

Publisher

HarperCollins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0062930273

ISBN 13

9780062930279

The Good Man

A Novel

By: Edward Jae-Suk Lee

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The Good Man

A Novel

By: Edward Jae-Suk Lee

A soldier's story, one particularly timely amid the news of abuse in Iraq. It is the beautifully and poignantly told story of Gabriel Cuttman, an aging Korean War veteran, a good man who has done bad things and is struggling by a terrible secret.

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Page Count

257

Publisher

Bridgeworks

Published Date

ISBN 10

1461623286

ISBN 13

9781461623281

The Picture Bride

By: Lee Geum-yi

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The Picture Bride

By: Lee Geum-yi

Could you marry a man you’ve never met? Three Korean women in 1918 make a life-changing journey to Hawaii, where they will marry, having seen only photographs of their intended husbands. Different fates await each of these women. Hongju, who dreams of a marriage of ‘natural love’, meets a man who looks twenty years older than his photograph; Songhwa, who wants to escape from her life of ridicule as the granddaughter of a shaman, meets a lazy drunkard. And then there’s Willow, whose 26-year-old groom, Taewan, looks just like his image … Real life doesn’t always resemble a picture, but there’s no going back. And while things don’t turn out quite as they’d hoped, even for Willow, they do find something that makes their journey worthwhile — each other.

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Page Count

272

Publisher

Scribe Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1922586625

ISBN 13

9781922586629

Native Speaker

By: Chang-rae Lee

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Native Speaker

By: Chang-rae Lee

Korean American Henry Park is a "surreptitious, B+ student of life, illegal alien, emotional alien, Yellow peril: neo-American, stranger, follower, traitor, spy …" or so says his wife in the list she writes upon leaving him. Henry is forever uncertain of his place, a perpetual outsider looking at American culture from a distance. And now, a man of two worlds, he is beginning to fear that he has betrayed both – and belongs to neither. Winer of the PEN Award.

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Publisher

Wheeler Publishing, Incorporated

Published Date

ISBN 10

1587242893

ISBN 13

9781587242892

Keurium

By: J. S. Lee

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Keurium

By: J. S. Lee

Shay Stone lies in a hospital bed, catatonic-dead to the world. At the mercy of memories and visitations, she unearths secrets that may have led to her collapse. Will she remain paralyzed in denial? Or can she accept the unfathomable and break free?

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Page Count

362

Publisher

Pent-Up Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1732094306

ISBN 13

9781732094307

Somebody's Daughter

A Novel

By: Marie Myung-Ok Lee

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Somebody's Daughter

A Novel

By: Marie Myung-Ok Lee

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Page Count

314

Publisher

Beacon Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807097225

ISBN 13

9780807097229

The Investigation

By: J. M. Lee

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The Investigation

By: J. M. Lee

Watanabe Yuichi, a young guard with a passion for reading, is ordered to investigate. The victim, Sugiyama, also a guard, was feared and despised throughout the prison and inquiries have barely begun when a powerful inmate confesses. But Watanbe is unconvinced; and as he interrogates both the suspect and Yun Dong-ju, a talented Korean poet, he starts to realize that the fearsome guard was not all he appeared to be...As Watanbe unravels Sugiyama's final months, he begins to discover what is really going on inside this dark and violent institution, which few inmates survive: a man who will stop at nothing to dig his way to freedom; a governor whose greed knows no bounds; a little girl whose kite finds an unlikely friend. And Yun Dong-ju—the poet whose works hold such beauty the can break the hardest of hearts. As the war moves towards its devastating close and bombs rain down upon the prison, Watanbe realizes that he must find a way to protect Yun Dong-ju, no matter what it takes. As he digs further and further in to his investigation, the young guard discovers a devastating truth.At once a captivating mystery and an epic lament for lost freedom and humanity, The Investigation, inspired by a true story, is a sweeping and gripping tale by an international literary star.

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Publisher

Pegasus Crime

Published Date

ISBN 10

1681772515

ISBN 13

9781681772516

Sonata in K

By: Karen An-hwei Lee

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Sonata in K

By: Karen An-hwei Lee

K, a Nisei woman, is hired to be a reconstituted Franz Kafka's interpreter and chauffeur through a tour of millennial Los Angeles"--Provided by publisher.

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Published Date

ISBN 10

1940400082

ISBN 13

9781940400082

Book's by Lee Hyoseok

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