Translated Lit

Written by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan Summary Yeongju is burned out. With her high-flying career, demanding marriage, and bustling life in Seoul, she knows she should feel successful—but all she feels is drained. Haunted by an abandoned dream, …

This novel of interconnected, emotional stories may not be “classic” time travel fiction — and its underlying values can feel a bit dated — but it’s a worthwhile read nonetheless. The Summary The quirkiest café in Japan, Funiculi Funicula, has …

Summary Renowned art historian Dr. Edna Silvera is not your typical detective. In fact, she’s not a detective at all. But when she stumbles across an apparently impossible medieval painting in the suddenly-deceased Nando Folli’s junk shop, her curiosity lands …

I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus from sharing a post about Women in Translation month (see my WIT lists from 2020 and 2021), but I haven’t stopped reading books written and translated by women. Just in case you need …

‘Every woman must be nourished by an inner reservoir of secrets…’ but when Melike starts to unravel hers, the consequences are devastating.

Synopsis Motherland is not a political book, but rather a poignant and sentimental search for one’s roots and for the answers to the often-asked questions: What defines us? Who are you in a new country? What truly matters? By the …

Summary Winner of the Prix Maison de la Presse An epic love story set against a backdrop of injustice, devastating secrets, and the painful price of independence. It’s 1967 in the Chagos archipelago—a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean—and …

Take a dilapidated castle in the Scottish Highlands, add a peacock gone rogue, a group of bankers on a team building trip, an overwhelmed psychologist, a housekeeper with a broken arm, and an ingenious cook, get Lord and Lady Macbeth …

Synopsis WINNER OF THE MAO DUN LITERATURE PRIZE Liu Xinwu’s work, which includes novels, short stories, and children’s literature, focuses on the common people of Beijing who live on the margins of society. He is one of the earliest proponents …

An enthralling biography about one of the most intriguing women of the Victorian age: the first self-invented international social celebrity.