A Smithsonian Best Book of the YearFukuoka Prison, 1944.  Beyond the prison walls, the war rages.  Inside, a man is found brutally murdered.  What follows is a searing portrait of Korea before their civil war, and a testimony to the redemptive power of poetry.  Watanbe Yuichi, a young guard with a passion for reading, is ordered to investigate a murder. The victim, Sugiyama, also a guard, was feared and despised throughout the prison and inquiries have barely begun when a powerful inmate confesses. But Watanbe is unconvinced; and as he interrogates both the suspect and Yun Dong-ju, a talented Korean poet, he starts to realize that the fearsome guard was not all he appeared to be... As Watanbe unravels Sugiyama's final months, he begins to discover what is really going on inside this dark and violent institution, which few inmates survive: a man who will stop at nothing to dig his way to freedom; a governor whose greed knows no bounds; a little girl whose kite finds an unlikely friend. And Yun Dong-ju―the poet whose works hold such beauty the can break the hardest of hearts. As the war moves towards its devastating close and bombs rain down upon the prison, Watanbe realizes that he must find a way to protect Yun Dong-ju, no matter what it takes. As he digs further and further in to his investigation, the young guard discovers a devastating truth. At once a captivating mystery and an epic lament for lost freedom and humanity, The Investigation, inspired by a true story, is a sweeping and gripping tale by an international literary star.

Product Description: The Korean Charlotte's WebMore than 2 million copies sold   This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command, only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and comes up with a plan to escape into the wild—and to hatch an egg of her own...read more

Product Description: "Originally published in slightly different form in South Korea as "Omma rul put'ak hae" by Changbi Publishers, Paju-si Kyonggi-do, in 2008."--T.p. verso.

Amid the emotional desolation and stark despair of Seoul, Korea, the unnamed narrator assists the lost and hurting find an escape through peaceful suicide, and two brothers are torn by their mutual love for the same woman, in a collection of interwoven stories set against the backdrop of contemporary Korea. Original.

Product Description: PLEASE NOTE: This edition of Toy City is the only English translation containing the full text of the Korean novel, including all three segments. Another paperback edition, also called Toy City, is much shorter, containing only one third of the full novel...read more