Winter in Sokcho
By Elisa Shua Dusapin

A punchy first novel. --and Guardianand Top 10 Best New Books in TranslationAs if Marguerite Duras wroteand Convenience Store Womanand a beautiful, unexpected novel from a debut French Korean authorIt s winter in Sokcho, a tourist town on the border between South and North Korea. The cold slows everything down. Bodies are red and raw, the fish turn venomous, beyond the beach guns point out from the North s watchtowers. A young French Korean woman works as a receptionist in a tired guesthouse. One evening, an unexpected guest arrives: a French cartoonist determined to find inspiration in this desolate landscape.The two form an uneasy relationship. 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. 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. As she s pulled into his vision and taken in by his drawings, she strikes upon a way to finally be seen.An exquisitely-crafted debut, which won the Prix Robert Walser,and Winter in Sokchoand is a novel about shared identities and divided selves, vision and blindness, intimacy and alienation. Elisa Shua Dusapin s voice is distinctive and unmistakable.'Enigmatic, beguiling...This finely crafted debut explores topics of identity and heredity in compelling fashion. In its aimless, outsider protagonist there are echoes of Sayaka Murata'sand Convenience Store Woman.' --and Irish Times'The bustling seaside resort of Sokcho in South Korea is the perfect backdrop for this quietly haunting debut.' --and Daily Mail'Crisp and poetic.' --and i'Dazzling.' --and Vogueand Top Five Debuts'A fascinating portrait of life in modern Korea.' --and S Magazine