All Walls Collapse brings together 11 acclaimed writers from across the world to explore the impact of walls, barriers, partitions and borders on people's lives, as well as their communities.
Kyung-sook Shin Books
Shin Kyung-sook is an author who delves into profound human emotions and relationships. Her works often explore themes of memory, loss, and familial bonds. Shin writes with a keen eye for detail and psychological depth, crafting narratives that resonate with readers on an emotional level. Her writing is celebrated for its ability to capture the complexities of the human heart.
The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness - A Novel
- 480 pages
- 17 hours of reading
The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness is a stark and lyrical work that follows a teen-aged girl who has just arrived in Seoul to work in a factory while struggling to achieve her dream of finishing school and becoming a writer. Shin sets the this complex and nuanced coming of age story against the backdrop of Korea’s industrial sweatshops of the 1970's and takes on the extreme exploitation, oppression, and urbanization that helped catapult Korea’s economy out of the ashes of the war.Millions of teen-aged girls from the countryside descended on Seoul in the late 1970's. These girls formed the bottom of the city's social hierarchy, forgotten and ignored. Richly autobiographical, the novel lays bare the conflict and confusion Shin goes through as she confronts her past and the sweeping social change that has taken place in her homeland over the past half century. The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness has been cited in Korea as one of the most important literary novels of the decade, and cements Shin's legacy as one of the most insightful and exciting young writers of her generation.
The Court Dancer : A Novel
- 336 pages
- 12 hours of reading
Based on a remarkable true story, the New York Times bestselling author of Please Look After Mom brilliantly images the life of Yi Jin, an orphan who would fall under the affections of the Empress and become a jewel in the late Joseon Court. When a novice French diplomat arrives for an audience with the Emperor, he is enraptured by the Joseon Dynasty's magnificent culture, then at its zenith. But all fades away when he sees Yi Jin perform the delicate traditional Dance of the Spring Oriole. Though well aware that women of the court belong to the palace, the young diplomat confesses his love to the Emperor, and gains permission for Yi Jin to accompany him back to France. A world away in Belle Epoque Paris, Yi Jin lives a free, independent life, away from the gilded cage of the court, and begins translating and publishing Joseon literature into French with another Korean student. But even in this new world, great sorrow awaits her. Yi Jin's grieving and suffering is only amplified by homesickness and a longing for her oldest friend. But her homecoming was not a happy one. Betrayal, jealousy, and intrigue abound, culminating with the tragic assassination of the last Joseon empress-and the poisoned pages of a book. Rich with historic detail and filled with luminous characters, Korea's most beloved novelist brings a lost era to life in a story that will resonate long after the final page.
Follows the efforts of a family to find the mother who went missing from Seoul Station and their sobering realizations when they recall memories that suggest she may not have been happy
South Korea, 1970. San is a lonely child, ostracised from her community. She soon finds a friend in a girl called Namae, until one afternoon changes everything. Following a moment of intimacy in a minari field, Namae violently rejects San, setting her on a troubling path.We next meet San, aged twenty- two, when she happens upon a job at a flower shop in Seoul's bustling city centre. Over the course of one hazy, volatile summer, San is introduced to a curious cast of characters - the mute shop owner, a brash co-worker, kind farmers and aggressive customers - and fuelled by a quiet desperation to jump- start her life, she plunges headfirst into obsession with a passing magazine photographer. Throughout it all, San's moment with Namae continues to linger in the back of her mind.A story of thwarted desire, misogyny and erasure, Violets reveals the high stakes involved in one woman's desperate search for both autonomy and attachment in an unforgiving society.
After losing her own daughter in a tragic accident, Hon returns to her childhood home in the Korean countryside to look after her elderly father.There, the discovery of a chest of letters compels her to piece together the violent, vibrant story of his life - from experiences of violence and trauma during the Korean War to a love affair and involvement in a religious sect, Hon learns that her father is more complex than she ever gave him credit for. More than just a portrait of one man, I WENT TO SEE MY FATHER asks us to look at the ones we love, uncover the secrets they keep, and finally see who they really are. Affectionate, epic, joyous and lasting, this is the perfect follow-up to beloved classic PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER.
Violets
- 240 pages
- 9 hours of reading
'Dreamy, immersive and evocative' TLS 'Darkly beautiful' Frances Cha 'Strange and gripping' Guardian San is twenty-two and alone when she happens upon a job at a flower shop in Seoul's bustling city centre. Haunted by childhood rejection, she stumbles through life - painfully vulnerable, stifled, and unsure. She barely registers to others, especially by the ruthless standards of 1990s South Korea. But over the course of one summer, San meets a curious cast of characters: the nonspeaking shop owner, a brash co-worker, aggressive customers and an enigmatic magazine photographer. Fuelled by a quiet desperation to jump-start her life, she dares, briefly, to dream of connection in an unforgiving world. Translated by Anton Hur
