Princess Bari

Books Authors Subscribe About Us Contact Us Princess Bari Hwang Sok-yong Translated from the Korean by Sora Kim-Russell ‘Hwang Sok-yong is undoubtedly the most powerful voice of the novel in Asia today’ Kenzabur? ?e, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature In the North Korean city of Chongjin, a seventh daughter is born in 1983 to a couple longing for a son.

Abandoned hours after her birth, she is dragged away by the family dog and eventually rescued by her grandmother. The old woman names the child “Bari”, after a Korean legend telling of a similarly forsaken princess who undertakes a quest for an elixir that will bring peace to the souls of the dead.

Bari, who has inherited her grandmother’s extraordinary intuitive powers and the ability to see apparitions, escapes famine and desolation in North Korea as a delicate but brave adolescent. She finds refuge in China before embarking on the sort of journey made by thousands in our time: across the ocean in the hold of a cargo ship, bound for London and, it is hoped, for a better life.

About the Author

Born in 1943, Hwang Sok-yong is one of Asia's most renowned authors. A tireless human-rights activist, he was sentenced in 1993 to seven years in a South Korean prison (serving five) for a 'breach of national security', after making unauthorised trips to North Korea to promote openness between the two countries. He is the recipient of South Korea's most prestigious literary prizes, and has been shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger.