First published 2023
Geumbok cannot forget the whale she once saw rise from the ocean. That moment changed everything, filling her with a hunger she cannot name or satisfy. She lives in a remote South Korean village where impossible things happen daily. A neighbor sells her child for honey. A baby born in winter's depths gets named Girl of Spring. A storm tears apart the local restaurant and uncovers buried treasure. Geumbok's daughter Chunhui never speaks to humans but somehow communicates with elephants. A one-eyed woman commands bees with her whistle. These characters weave through each other's lives across generations, creating a world where the absurd feels inevitable. The village operates by its own strange logic, where animals understand more than people and fortunes appear in the most unlikely places. At the center of it all, Geumbok keeps searching for that indescribable feeling the whale gave her, while her silent daughter finds her own ways to connect with the world around them.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, magical-realism, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, magical-realism
Setting: South Korea, Remote Village
342 pages · Kindle Edition · Europa Editions