I struggled to put this book down and when I managed to, it did not leave my mind. The writing feels both pared back and entrancingly dreamlike, the loneliness and isolation compounded by environment and societal pressure. Theme exceeds action in this gentle and melancholic reflection of an anonymous narrator who works in Old Park’s guest house, spending her days off in her childhood home where she shares a bed. A compelling debut from an exciting new french-korean author, exploring heritage, tourism and cultural ideals both modern and old. Winter in Sokcho is a masterfully crafted tale of identity, alienation and longing, set against the backdrop of a town that, too, seeks reconciliation. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, is published by Daunt (RRP 9.99). She agrees to show him around and their perceptions of place begin to clash. 'A woman living in her hometown on the north/south Korean border is intrigued when a French cartoonist checks into the guesthouse she works at in the dead of winter. Elisa Shua Dusapin's voice is distinctive and unmistakable.

An exquisitely-crafted debut, which won the Prix Robert Walser, Winter in Sokcho is a novel about shared identities and divided selves, vision and blindness, intimacy and alienation. As she's pulled into his vision and taken in by his drawings, she strikes upon a way to finally be seen. But he takes no interest in the Sokcho she knows - the gaudy neon lights, the scars of war, the fish market where her mother works. When she agrees to accompany him on trips to discover an 'authentic' Korea, they visit snowy mountaintops and dramatic waterfalls, and cross into North Korea. One evening, an unexpected guest arrives: a French cartoonist determined to find inspiration in this desolate landscape. A young French Korean woman works as a receptionist in a tired guesthouse. Bodies are red and raw, the fish turn venomous, beyond the beach guns point out from the North's watchtowers. Aneesa Abbas Higgins has translated books by Elisa Shua Dusapin, Vnus Khoury-Ghata, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Ali Zamir, and Nina Bouraoui. It's winter in Sokcho, a tourist town on the border between South and North Korea. Published in 2016 to wide acclaim, it was awarded the Prix Robert Walser and the Prix Rgine Desforges and has been translated into six languages. Author(s): Elisa Shua Dusapin Aneesa Abbas Higgins (Translator)Īs if Marguerite Duras wrote Convenience Store Woman - a beautiful, unexpected novel from a debut French-Korean author.

Sokcho winter