Everlasting Empire, by Yi In-Hwa

Translated by Yu Young-nan (2002 Daesan Prize for Outstanding Literary Translation), with an Introduction by Don Baker.

An historical fiction that examines the last years of King Chongjo (r. 1777-1800), the grandson of King Yongjo, and more notably, the son of Crown Prince Sado, who was killed by his father, King Yongjo, who asked him to step into a rice chest and sealed it, whereupon he died of starvation. For more on that compelling story, The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong (wife of Crown Prince Sado) by Jahyun Kim Haboush is vital reading. Told from the point of view of the royal librarian, a fictional character named Yi In-Mong, the story opens with the discovery of a dead Royal Library clerk. It is later revealed that the clerk was murdered by the burning of coal— a newly discovered element at that time in Korea—in the ondol (floor heating) firepit of the library room where the clerk was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. A complicated plot of a missing book, notes on that missing book, and an elusive story of a metal bound coffer, said to contain policy changing thoughts of King Yongjo, is also alluded to be a fictional account created by King Chongjo to reinstate the honor and integrity of his murdered father. The messy and complicated factional politics of the era, the Northern and Southerner camps, including the incursion of the Catholics, is fully explored. The librarian’s dear friend is Tasan, Chong Yag-yong (1762-1836), among the greatest Sirhak scholars of the period who was later persecuted as a Catholic. For more about Tasan, Encounters, by Hahn Moo-Sook, is a must-read. This book isn’t easy reading, especially for those not familiar with Korean ancient history or customs. The characters are many, the politics and governmental structure are complex and hard to follow, and the cultural history dense and laden with an expectation of general understanding that most Westerners don’t have. Yet it’s also a page-turning mystery, a story of enduring and lost love, of honor and loyalty, of immense sacrifice for love of one’s country and king, and how one era in the Choson Dynasty’s long life might have changed the outcome of history had the King been successful with his reforms.

The Chinese Mirror, by Mirra Ginsburg

A father in ancient Korea travels to China and brings home something he's never seen before—a mirror. Not understanding that the image they see in the mirror is theirs, each family member reads more into the image they see, and havoc ensues. Lovely watercolors enhance this story. Children's picture book.

The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y. K. Lee

Among the highlights of Lee’s debut novel are the two periods the story is told within—early 1950s and the onset of Japan’s occupation in the 1940s—and the wonderful setting of Hong Kong. It is as much a love story as a mystery, a tale of race and class issues, culture divides, loss, betrayal, regret and finding oneself amid the languishing shadows of world war. It brought to mind two other works: the recent film by Ang Lee, “Lust, Caution,” which takes place in Shanghai but has similar themes; and John Lanchester’s book, FRAGRANT HARBOR, which occurs in Hong Kong and has a story that parallels THE PIANO TEACHER. As the story developed, the plot grew complex and advanced to a degree of urgency against the background of war that by the second half I couldn’t put this book down.

Seesaw Girl, by Linda Sue Park

Jade Blossom, being an aristocrat's child, cannot leave her family compound, until one day she does—to see her sister who recently married. Her adventure is unprecedented for a girl of her class, and brings uproar to the family. Very young adult.

Korean Adventure: Inside Story of an Army Wife, by Dorothy House Vieman

The diary of the wife of an KMAG (Korean Military Advisory Govt.) Army Colonel who arrived in Seoul on April 29, 1949 and lived there for 14 months until she was evacuated because of the looming Korean War. Unlike the similar memoir, Irma and the Hermit, this narrator is worldly and although much is new to her, she is compassionate and curious about what she sees in Korea.

Wayfarer: New Fiction by Korean Women, edited and translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton

A collection of postwar short stories ranging from the 50s to now. All deal with the isolation and stultified domestic place within which South Korean women still struggle for identity, enrichment and meaning. The introduction puts much of this writing in context, and informs about certain classifications of Korean modern literature, including pundan munhak, a body of work that deals with the territorial division of Korea and divided families, the anti-Communist campaigns for which the "sins of the father" ruined the careers and hopes of two generations. Out of this theme came one of the two strongest stories in this collection (which may seem strong due to this Westernized reader): Kim Min-suk's "Scarlet Fingernails," about a daughter who visits her father given a day's furlough to celebrate his hwang-ap from a life prison sentence--a man whom she never met who refuses to recant his visit to the north. What's fascinating is that the story turns out to be less concerned with the daughter than with the mother, his wife, who though she doesn't visit him, prepares special soup and then has her own private party at home with the old ladies in the complex. The other compelling tale was a NYC immigrant story by Kim Chi-won, "Almaden," about a liquor store owner, the disaffected wife of a cold husband, who fantasizes about a man who buys the same wine every day for years. This collection speaks to the internal lives of modern Korean women and how they struggle for dignity in a culture that sees women best as martyrs, wives and mothers.