Historical fiction books from South Korea
Recommended historical fiction books (10)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into historical fiction here are some historical fiction books from South Korea for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Slave. Escape-Artist. Murderer. Terrorist. Spy. Lover. Mother. Trickster.Ms Mook made you want to listen to her, but I wasn't sure what to believe. She said she would turn 'one hundred the day after tomorrow', yet she looked at most eighty-seven. She said she'd been a slave, a spy, a murderer and more, but were these just the fantasies of an old woman, eager to fill her obituary with colourful stories?This wildly original and vibrant novel tells stories of captivity, friendship, assumed identities and spying. Moving from a nursing home in contemporary South Korea to WWII Indonesia, Seoul in th... continue
2.
A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace, crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that will feel all-too-relevant in today’s world, based on a true story from Korean history. Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly. 1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings. Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despit... continue
4.
Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
This true story of a Korean comfort woman documents how the atrocity of war devastates women’s lives Grass is a powerful antiwar graphic novel, telling the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War—a disputed chapter in twentieth-century Asian history. Beginning in Lee’s childhood, Grass shows the lead-up to the war from a child’s vulnerable perspective, detailing how one person experienced the Japanese occupation and the widespread suffering it entailed for ordinary Koreans. Keum Suk Gendry-Kim em... continue
5.
Imposible Decir Adiós / We Do Not Part by Kang Han ES
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
LA NUEVA NOVELA DE HAN KANG PREMIO NOBEL DE LITERATURA 2024 PREMIO MÉDICIS ÉTRANGER 2023 «Una novela inquietantemente bella sobre la imposibilidad de despertar de la pesadilla histórica. Inolvidable». -Hernán Díaz Una gélida mañana de finales de diciembre, Gyeongha recibe un inesperado mensaje de su amiga Inseon: después de sufrir un accidente en su taller de carpintería en la isla de Jeju, ha sido trasladada de urgencia a un hospital de Seúl. Desde la cama, Inseon le ruega que tome el primer vuelo a la isla y se ocupe de su pequeña cotorra antes de que se le acaben el agua y la comida. Pero, ... continue
6.
One Left: A Novel by Kim Soom EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
During the Pacific War, more than 200,000 Korean girls were forced into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers. They lived in horrific conditions in “comfort stations” across Japanese-occupied territories. Barely 10 percent survived to return to Korea, where they lived as social outcasts. Since then, self-declared comfort women have come forward only to have their testimonies and calls for compensation largely denied by the Japanese government. Kim Soom tells the story of a woman who was kidnapped at the age of thirteen while gathering snails for her starving family. The horrors of her life as... continue
7.
Pachinko : The New York Times Bestseller by Min Jin Lee EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
* The million-copy bestseller* * National Book Award finalist * * An instant New York Times Bestseller and one of their 10 Best Books of 2017 * * Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club * 'This is a captivating book... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion' BARACK OBAMA. Yeongdo, Korea, 1911. Teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a fisherman, falls for a wealthy yakuza. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant – and that her lover i... continue
8.
The Color of Earth by Dong Hwa Kim EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Contains graphic sexual topics.
9.
The Silence of Bones by June Hur EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
I have a mouth, but I mustn't speak; Ears, but I mustn't hear; Eyes, but I mustn't see. 1800, Joseon (Korea). Homesick and orphaned sixteen-year-old Seol is living out the ancient curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Indentured to the police bureau, she’s been tasked with assisting a well-respected young inspector with the investigation into the politically charged murder of a noblewoman. As they delve deeper into the dead woman's secrets, Seol forms an unlikely bond of friendship with the inspector. But her loyalty is tested when he becomes the prime suspect, and Seol may be the only o... continue
10.
Your Republic Is Calling You by Kim Young-ha EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
This psychological thriller of a North Korean spy living in Seoul is “perhaps the most intriguing and accomplished Korean fiction yet to appear in English” (Kirkus). Foreign film importer Kim Ki-Yong is a family man with a wife and daughter. Living a prosperous life in Seoul, South Korea, he’s an aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi. But he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years. Then, after more than a decade of silence from the home office, he receives a mysterious email stating that he has one day to return to headquarters. But is the mess... continue