Princess Bari By: Hwang Sok-Yong

A modern-day quest novel from one of Korea’s most renowned novelists.

Princess Bari tells the story of a young girl, frail and brave, who escapes from famine and death in North Korea in the 1990s. Seeking refuge in China before crossing oceans in the hold of a cargo ship, she disembarks in London, with its strange mix of different cultures, religions, and languages.

In this foreign city, Bari becomes a masseuse, but she doesn’t just heal the body, she also comforts souls, having learnt from her beloved grandmother to read the pain and nightmares of others. Alone and in a strange land, Bari will have to fight, through pain and deepening sadness, to find love and the will to stay alive.

With Princess Bari, Hwang Sok-Yong entwines an old Korean myth — of an abandoned princess travelling to the ends of the earth to find the elixir of life, which will bring peace to the souls of the dead — with the ethereal and haunting backdrop of the modern world.

About the Author

Hwang Sok-Yong was born in 1943 and is arguably Korea’s most renowned author. In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorized trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in North and South Korea. Five years later, he was released on a special pardon by the new president. The recipient of Korea’s highest literary prizes and shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger, his novels and short stories are published in North and South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, Italy, UK, USA and many more countries. Previous novels include The Ancient Garden, The Story Of Mister Han, And The Guest.In Korea he has recently published a new novel: Hesperus: The Star that Appears When Dogs Start to Beg for Food – a universal tale with a Korean flavour about the pains of growing up.