We Do Not Part: A Novel

http://www.renaud-bray.com

http://www.renaud-bray.com

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERHAN KANG'S FIRST NOVEL SINCE WINNING THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATUREFINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTIONLONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, TIME, THE ECONOMIST, THE NEW YORKER, THE GUARDIAN, VULTURE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, BOOK RIOT, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY • ONE OF BOOKPAGE’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR“[Han Kang’s] intense poetic prose . . . confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”—The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel PrizeHan Kang’s most revelatory book since The Vegetarian, We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between two women while powerfully reckoning with a hidden chapter in Korean history—“[A] masterpiece” (The Boston Globe)“A haunting exploration of friendship amid historical trauma.”—Time“A novel that is both disquieting and entrancing.”—The EconomistOne winter morning in Seoul, Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon to visit her at the hospital. Inseon has injured herself in an accident, and she begs Kyungha to return to Jeju Island, where she lives, to save her beloved pet—a white bird called Ama. A snowstorm hits the island when Kyungha arrives. She must reach Inseon’s house at all costs, but the icy wind and squalls slow her down as night begins to fall. She wonders if she will arrive in time to save the animal—or even survive the terrible cold that envelops her with every step. Lost in a world of snow, she doesn’t yet suspect the vertiginous plunge into darkness that awaits her at her friend’s house.Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully brings to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering, it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable pain—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be.