Fraught, disturbing, and beautiful, Han Kang’s novel is about shame and desire, and our faltering attempts to understand the lives of others
Hang Kan investigates the fragility, beauty and strangeness of life in a contemplation of memory, loss and the lives that leave this world before us
An unnamed narrator moves to a European city where she is haunted by the story of her older sister, who died a mere two hours after birth. As she contemplates the child’s short life she focuses on whiteness and all it symbolises. The White Book is a meditation on colour, beginning with a list of white things. It is a book about mourning, rebirth and the tenacity of the human spirit.
Han Kang
About the Author
Han Kang is a South Korean writer. The Vegetarian, her first novel to be translated into English, won the Man Booker International Prize 2016
Deborah Smith
About the Translator
Deborah Smith FRSL is a British translator of Korean fiction. She translated Man Booker International Prize 2016-winning novel The Vegetarian by Korean author Han KangOther nominated books by Han Kang
Other nominated books by Deborah Smith
Fraught, disturbing, and beautiful, Han Kang’s novel is about shame and desire, and our faltering attempts to understand the lives of others
