Beasts of a Little Land: A Novel

by Juhea Kim

Overview

"A spectacular debut filled with great characters and heart.” —Lisa See, author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

FINALIST FOR THE 2022 DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE · FINALIST FOR THE BALCONES FICTION PRIZE · LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN AWARD

An epic story of love, war, and redemption set against the backdrop of the Korean independence movement, following the intertwined fates of a young girl sold to a courtesan school and the penniless son of a hunter

In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In an instant, their fates are connected—and from this encounter unfolds a saga that spans half a century.

In the aftermath, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver’s courtesan school, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. When she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets of Seoul, they form a deep friendship. As they come of age, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence, and Jade becomes a sought-after performer with a new romantic prospect of noble birth. Soon Jade must decide whether she will risk everything for the one who would do the same for her.

From the perfumed chambers of a courtesan school in Pyongyang to the glamorous cafes of a modernizing Seoul and the boreal forests of Manchuria, where battles rage, Juhea Kim’s unforgettable characters forge their own destinies as they wager their nation’s. Immersive and elegant, Beasts of a Little Land unveils a world where friends become enemies, enemies become saviors, heroes are persecuted, and beasts take many shapes.

A Recommended Read from: USA Today · The Washington Post · Entertainment Weekly · The Today Show · Real Simple · Good Morning America · Harper's Bazaar · Buzzfeed · Fortune · Vulture · Goodreads · Lit Hub · Book Riot · PopSugar · E! Online · Ms. Magazine · Chicago Review of Books · Bustle · The Oregonian · The Millions

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063119697
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/07/2021
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	576
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Juhea Kim is the author of the novel Beasts of a Little Land, which was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the winner of the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award, Russia’s largest annual award in literature. It has been translated around the world and is being adapted for television. She is also the author of City of Night Birds, which was a Reese’s Book Club pick. A graduate of Princeton University, her writing has been published in Granta, the Times Literary Supplement, the Independent, Zyzzyva, Guernica

Editorial Reviews

“A magnificent, mesmerizing story of love and war...an evocative and emotive historical novel...characters are so sensitively and carefully drawn that even the 'enemy' can be seen to have a human side. Cinematic in its scope, this is the type of novel that the reader finishes both with pleasure (for its satisfying dénouement and pleasing circularity) and sadness (at having to leave the story behind)." - New Internationalist
“[Beasts of a Little Land] is epic in scope, but it's also filled with intimate language and moments.” - NPR
"We see what each of these characters is willing to risk or sacrifice, whether for survival or some other purpose...remarkable."  - Ploughshares
"Assured and textured debut...following a cast of characters whose fates are molded and linked together by the country’s political forces and who, in the face of colonialism, violence and severe injustice, carve out spaces to live and love."  - New York Times Book Review
“Accomplished.... As the paths of her characters twist and cross and their fortunes rise and fall, [Kim] keeps the weight of the personal and political in perfect balance. Beasts of a Little Land is epic in range but intimate in emotional depth, sure to appeal to readers of historical fiction who prize a well-wrought character.” - BookPage
"Some people say that all stories are about either love or war. Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century Korea, Kim’s epic debut novel is about both." - Harper’s Bazaar, a Best Book of 2021
"Would you believe I read this 400-page epic story about war and love across decades of South Korea’s history in a single sitting? A debut novel that opens with a tiger encounter in the snowy mountains, it’s a twist on historical fiction that roars with life." - Entertainment Weekly, “Must List”
“[A] dreamy, intense debut…. The prose is ravishing and Kim demonstrates remarkable control of a complicated narrative. Even those with little knowledge of Korean history will come away struck by the way individuals shape and are shaped by the political and cultural changes of the first half of the 20th century.” - Publishers Weekly
"For fans of far-reaching epic sagas that pinpoint human experience, readers will relish the narrative that chronicles the lives of the characters from childhood through old age, reminding us that although different, our lives are all connected by our fears, hopes and the quest for steadfast love." - Book Trib
"In Juhea Kim’s debut novel, the land may be small but the scope is immense, as in a grand Russian novel complete with battlefields, intergenerational legacies and snarled love affairs... Everyone is extraordinary, a singular beast in exceptional times, and in Kim’s capable hands this liberty pays off....Beasts of a Little Land is a stunning achievement. Juhea Kim wrestles with the chaos of a half-century of love, idealism, war and violence, and does so with courage and wisdom." - TLS
“Captivating….  The times the characters must survive are often violent and harsh, but they maintain a surprising tenderheartedness, along with a deep need for love and purpose. Readers should expect to be swept along themselves by the waves of passion and tragedy that make the novel so appealing.” - Shelf Awareness (starred review)
"[A] rich sweep of a story [s]et during the decades of Japan’s brutal takeover of Korea... 'People are brave in different ways,' affirms Jade’s lifelong admirer JungHo, a sentiment that infuses the book." - Christian Science Monitor
"Powerful, romantic and wholly unforgettable." - Ms., a Best Book of 2021

From the Publisher

★ 2021-08-04
An epic novel brings complex 20th-century Korean history to life.

In this extraordinary historical novel, debut author Kim weaves together the story of friends and rivals trying to survive and thrive from the era of the Japanese occupation of Korea to the political purges of the mid-20th century. The book begins with a Korean hunter encountering a tiger in the snow when he is captured by a lost squad of Japanese soldiers. With its near-mythic evocations of several kinds of beasts, the prologue establishes the themes of the book. The majority of the novel follows Jade, whose impoverished farming family sends her as a young girl to work as a servant for a courtesan. Jade observes the rivalries of other girls in training, particularly Luna, the spoiled favored daughter of the head of the household, and Lotus, the spirited but plainer younger sister. Thanks to her intelligence and resourcefulness, Jade will grow up to become a celebrated courtesan and movie star in Seoul, where she and the two sisters end up as adults. Together they encounter various men, including the revolution-minded MyungBo, an intellectual fighting for Korean independence; the ever loyal JungHo, the leader of a street gang of orphaned boys; the slick and wealthy patron SungSoo; and the ambitious rickshaw driver HanChol. Jade, Luna, and Lotus fall in love with men from very different backgrounds, but their love and loyalty are not always returned. Kim shows clearly how patriarchy harms these resourceful women in one of the novel's major themes. Late in the book a Japanese general will remark, "How such enormous beasts have flourished in this little land is incomprehensible." He is referring to tigers, but he might as well be talking about the humans who fight here, too.

Gorgeous prose and unforgettable characters combine to make a literary masterpiece.

Kirkus Reviews