The 24 Best Korean Novels in Translation

Prize-shortlisted literary fiction, cozy bookshop reads and a couple of genuinely creepy thrillers, all carried into English by translators who deserve a bow.

1. 1
   The Vegetarian

   Han Kang's novel about a woman whose refusal to eat meat unravels her family, winner of the 2016 International Booker Prize.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Human Acts

   Han Kang's novel of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, told through the victims and survivors of the massacre.
   845pts
3. 3
   The Dallergut Dream Department Store

   Lee Mi-ye's whimsical bestseller about a shop where sleepers buy dreams.
   595pts
4. 4
   Untold Night and Day

   Bae Suah's dreamlike novel following a former actress through one long, shifting night in Seoul.
   534pts
5. 5
   Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop

   Hwang Bo-reum's gentle bestseller about a burned-out woman who opens a neighborhood bookshop in Seoul.
   534pts
6. 6
   The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

   Sun-mi Hwang's modern fable of a battery hen who escapes the coop to hatch an egg of her own.
   534pts
7. 7
   The Dwarf

   Cho Se-hui's linked-story novel about a family of evicted laborers during Korea's industrial boom.
   463pts
8. 8
   The Good Son

   You-jeong Jeong's thriller narrated by a young man who wakes up beside his murdered mother.
   463pts
9. 9
   Concerning My Daughter

   Kim Hye-jin's novel of a mother wrestling with her daughter's relationship with another woman.
   463pts
10. 10
    Love in the Big City

    Sang Young Park's funny, aching novel about a young gay man's loves and friendships in Seoul.
    463pts
11. 11
    The Hole

    Hye-young Pyun's psychological thriller about a paralyzed man at the mercy of his mother-in-law, a Shirley Jackson Award winner.
    379pts
12. 12
    I Have the Right to Destroy Myself

    Kim Young-ha's dark debut novel about a man who assists people seeking to end their lives.
    379pts
13. 13
    Almond

    Won-pyung Sohn's coming-of-age novel about a boy born unable to feel emotions.
    379pts
14. 14
    At Dusk

    Hwang Sok-yong's novel weighing the cost of Korea's breakneck development through an architect's memories.
    379pts
15. 15
    The Disaster Tourist

    Yun Ko-eun's satirical eco-thriller about a travel agent sent to review a resort built on catastrophe.
    379pts
16. 16
    Greek Lessons

    Han Kang's quiet novel about a woman who has lost her speech and the teacher who is losing his sight.
    379pts
17. 17
    Whale

    Cheon Myeong-kwan's picaresque epic of ambition and excess, shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize.
    379pts
18. 18
    The Square

    Choi In-hun's 1960 classic about a man caught between North and South Korea who belongs to neither.
    379pts
19. 19
    Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

    Cho Nam-joo's million-selling novel tracing one ordinary woman's life through everyday sexism in Korea.
    278pts
20. 20
    I'll Be Right There

    Kyung-sook Shin's novel of four students bound by friendship amid the protests of 1980s Seoul.
    278pts
21. 21
    The Plotters

    Un-su Kim's noir about a hitman raised in a library of assassins who begins to question his orders.
    278pts
22. 22
    The Guest

    Hwang Sok-yong's novel about a massacre in a North Korean village during the Korean War, told by its ghosts.
    0pts
23. 23
    We Do Not Part

    Han Kang's novel confronting the Jeju massacre of 1948 through two friends and a snowbound journey.
    0pts
24. 24
    Please Look After Mom

    Kyung-sook Shin's bestseller about a family searching Seoul for their mother after she vanishes in a subway station.
    0pts

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