With Japan’s success at invading China and Korea, and Britain afraid a rising superpower might take over their jewel, India, the British government makes a pact with Japan. In the early 1900s a group of British soldiers are then sent to Japan to learn Japanese and war tactics. In Tokyo, Arthur meets Masa, a Japanese woman who has been rejected by her husband and sent back to her family. The pair fall in love and even though Arthur is transferred to other destinations, their connection doesn’t end until forty years later with the outbreak of the second world war.
This memoir is based on research and the hundreds of letters from Arthur discovered in Masa’s trunk after her death. These letters reveal an in-depth insight into their lives and the dramatic changes that took place in both countries—a book I couldn’t put down.
In an exclusive Seoul neigbourhood, is a cheap apartment building where a married couple and several single young women live. Minho is a talented artist, Kyuri, after multiple plastic surgeries, is a beautiful room salon worker in debt, and Ara a hairstylist.
This contemporary tale not only delves into women struggling to survive in an expensive city but explores the attitude of the rich who use and abuse those they consider to be on a lower peg than themselves. A must read for those who are curious about Korea’s social hierarchy and the lives some are forced to live.
A novelist lives alone on a remote island since her parents have been removed by the memory police. It is not only people who have disappeared, but objects too—hats, the ferry service to the northern island—things that are also removed from the inhabitants’ memories. Every now and then when she wakes, she senses something else has disappeared.
In 1919 Pyongyang, Jade is sold to Madam Silver who will train her as a courtesan. But when Madam Silver’s daughter, Luna is raped, she sends Luna, Lotus, and Jade to her cousin, Dani in Seoul to hide Luna’s pregnancy. Aunt Dani continues their training while JungHo heads south to Seoul in search of a better life after his father’s death. Under Japanese occupation, underground movements form in the hope of gaining independence.
This novel takes place over fifty years following the lives of these characters and Korea’s struggle to break free from Japan’s strangling grip.
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