The best Korean fiction in translation

If you love reading books from around the world – especially the ever-popular and growing canon of translated Japanese fiction – then the literature of Korea is your next fix.

Modern Korea, split into two nations since the war in the 1950s, has produced a distinctive style of fiction that blends the familiar with the strange, the everyday with the uncanny, sweetness with drama, and the old and the new.

Contemporary authors with huge followings (both in Korea and internationally) include the 2024 Nobel Literature Prize winner Han Kang; Bora Chung, whose short story collection Cursed Bunny is weird and funny; Cheon Myeong-kwan, whose satirical novel Whale is indescribably bonkers; and Sang Young Park, whose Love in the Big City is a queer modern classic.

From classic fables to modern bestsellers, here's our selection of some of the best books from Korea that have been translated into English. 

The Trunk by Kim Ryeo-ryeong (2023)

“Marriage sounds exhausting,” says the narrator of this satirical novel, soon to be a major new Netflix series. In this novel, society has a solution for that: the wealthy can rent a spouse for a fixed period, from a business called New Marriage (NM). The idea is that, if marriage is so exhausting, why not end it before both parties get bored, angry or resentful? The heroine of the story is Inji, who works for NM and has been asked back for a second period of marriage by one of her former “husbands” – a job that begins to unearth the darker side of her past and her employer. Hailed for its intriguing premise and gripping plot, The Trunk is a wide-ranging exploration of friendship and work, as well as love. (Translated by The KoLab)

Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yun (2024)

“What if it’s possible to wash away your regrets?” asks Jungeun Yun’s debut novel, an international bestseller in the Korean tradition of “healing fiction”. The heroine, Jieun, is both blessed and cursed with two powers: the ability to heal people’s pain, and to make their wishes come true. But disaster strikes when she misuses her powers and her family vanishes. So she sets up a “mind laundry” to help others: a scandal-hit influencer, a man still traumatised by childhood bullying, and more. But this isn’t a one-way system, as Jieun learns some valuable lessons too. If ever a book felt like a warm hug, this is it. (Translated by Shanna Tan)

Greek Lessons by Han Kang (2023)

This novel, by this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, represents a different yet well-established type of modern Korean fiction: one with an air of tantalising mystery that the reader needs to take slowly for best effect. (There are also moments of shock that we’re used to from Han: one character gets whacked in the face by a block of wood, for instance.) At its heart is a high-concept story: a young woman who finds herself unable to speak takes a course in ancient Greek by a teacher who is losing his sight. This is a book about complexity in communication, with themes of darkness versus light, and the difficulties women face in society. (Translated by Deborah Smith and e. yaewon)

The Nine Cloud Dream by Kim Man-jung (1687)

This Korean classic is a doubly historical novel, written in the 17th century and set in Tang-era China 700 years earlier. It is, in large part, a fantasy-like fairytale of reincarnation, where a monk gives in to the temptations of the flesh with no fewer than eight young fairy women. He’s kicked out of this life and reincarnated, condemned to start all over again. There are more twists: his new life is one of growing fortune and success, but a journey of self-actualisation highlights the murky distinction between dreams and reality. The Nine Cloud Dream is also inspired by the infighting and betrayals of King's court where author Kim Man-jung lived and worked, making it a coming-of-age story, a warning from history and a moral education. (Translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl)

The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories, edited by Bruce Fulton (2023)

This wide-ranging anthology includes fiction from 1934 to 2013, covering all aspects of modern Korea, as well as its enduring traditions. Some stories portray a highly conformist society where even being left-handed is against the norm. The prolific Ch’ae Manshik’s story A Man Called Hǔngbo, meanwhile, adapts a classic tale of two brothers, one helpless and innocent, the other crooked and powerful, and shows that goodness doesn’t always win out. In later stories, themes of gender and society are prevalent: in Pak Wansǒ’s Winter Outing, a modern wife’s discontent is linked to the Korean war (a recurring topic in the book); in O Chǒnghǔi’s Wayfarer, a woman stabs a burglar and then has to rebuild her life. Its author says she values writing “that feels truthful but leaves her ill at ease”, a quality any fan of modern Korean fiction will recognise.

The Poet by Yi Mun-yol (1992)

The hero of this Korean bestseller from 1992 is the real-life 19th-century poet Kim Pyong-yon. “As my hair grew longer,” he writes at the start of his story, “my fortunes travelled a rough road.” You can say that again: Kim’s grandfather was executed as a traitor to the country, and this terrible act echoed down the generations. He got off comparatively lightly: “In cases of high treason,” the book tells us, “the children were executed with their parents.” Unable to escape his family's reputation, Kim becomes a wandering poet, and the story follows his attempts to pursue a new life alongside a blunt portrayal of the corruption in 19th-century Korea. The story is personal as well as political for Yi Mun-yol: his own father was seen as a traitor after abandoning his family and defecting to North Korea in the 1950s. His son made literature from his loss. (Translated by Brother Anthony and Chung Chong-hwa)

The Story of Hong Gildong

This 19th century story is so legendary in South Korea that it has become a genre in itself, adapted in countless ways. At the heart is a Robin Hood-style character, Hong Gildong, who has been ousted from his place in high society and turns to a life of noble crime instead, robbing and plundering for the benefit of the poor. Magic powers help – he can “summon supernatural spirits and control the wind and rain” – and the result is a flurry of revenge, sword fights, beheadings, and even love, as our hero marries one of his rescued hostages – and brings two other women along as well. Hong Gildong, in the words of translator Minsoo Kang, is “a genuine native superhero”. Now, with this 2016 translated edition, English readers can cheer him on too. (Translated by Minsoo Kang)