Freja arrives in Singapore during the month of the hungry ghost, when old spirits are said to roam the streets and families must make offerings to appease their ancestors. She’s homesick for her Danish hometown and isn’t sure she fits in with the ‘happy family’ of her father, her step-mother and twin step-brothers.
As Freja tries to settle into her new life, a mysterious girl in a white dress starts to appear to her, seeming to beckon her on. Following this figure, Freja begins to unravel an old family mystery – one that must be solved before the month is over, to allow both girls to be freed from secrets long-buried.
Time travel has been used to stop the birth of Christ, altering the timeline of human history.
Lukas is the last Qumranian, an ancient sect sworn to secrecy and to protect the prophecies that bind the worlds together. When they develop a powerful technology that can control time, their discovery attracts unwanted attention.
When the Unclean — a militant force powered by dark magic — attack the hidden Qumranian compound under what once was the Dead Sea, Lukas barely escapes. But at what cost? With his life intact, he finds himself a prisoner in an alternate timeline not his own.
Alone in a foreign landscape ravaged by wars, advanced by technology, oppressed by a corporation partnered with a ruthless religious group slaughtering any who oppose them in the streets, sinister supernatural forces, and an artifact that literally can — and has — changed human history, Lukas must not only struggle to stay alive, but locate the only thing that can prevent the Unclean and the powers that control them from destroying the world.
Will Lukas manage to retrieve the artifact before more damage is done to the timeline of history, or will he be too late, forever lost in a nightmarish alternate reality?
Publisher: Scribner UK Publication Date: 20/02/2020 Length: 163 pages Genre: Translated Fiction | Korean Fiction | Contemporary Fiction
CW: sexual assault
Kim Ji-young is the most common name for Korean women born in the 1980s. Kim Ji-young is representative of her generation:
At home, she is an unfavoured sister to her princeling little brother. In primary school, she is a girl who has to line up behind the boys at lunchtime. In high school, she is a daughter whose father blames her for being harassed late at night. In university, she is a good student who doesn’t get put forward for internships by her professor. In the office, she is an exemplary employee who is overlooked for promotion by her manager. At home, she is a wife who has given up her career to take care of her husband and her baby.
Kim Ji-young is depressed. Kim Ji-young has started acting out. Kim Ji-young is her own woman. Kim Ji-young is insane.
Kim Ji-young is sent by her husband to a psychiatrist.This is his clinical assessment of the everywoman in contemporary Korea.
Jeremy’s mother is about to go to prison for their debt to the State. He is trying everything within his means to save her, but his options are running out fast.
Then Jeremy discovers a treasure under Paris.
This discovery may save his mother, but it doesn’t come for free. And he has to ride over several obstacles for his plan to work.
Firstly, welcome to my first Thoughtful Thursday post! I’m hoping for this to be a monthly feature where I just share my thoughts on books I’ve read, books I haven’t or just bookish things in general. So, for this Thoughtful Thursday, it’s also a bit of a Throwback Thursday (if that’s a thing in book blogging)!
Back in February (which feels like a lifetime ago at this point) I attended the Japan Now event at the British Library. I have always loved Japan and that love has only increased in recent years, especially after visiting Tokyo for the first time in 2018. Since then I have been doing even more to learn about the culture from trying to teach myself the language (emphasis on the word ‘trying’) to reading translated works by Japanese authors.
Whilst I love Haruki Murakami’s writing and his novels, I wanted to branch out and find some more Japanese authors that he has, arguably, paved the way in the West for. During my search I received a newsletter from the British Library which advertised the Japan Now event and I immediately bought my ticket to attend.
I had a great view for the event!
The entire event was fascinating and the organisers made a great choice in the guests that were invited. Whilst most of the guests were writers (either of novels or poetry) and their translators, there was also filmmaker Naoko Nobutomo and photographer Tomoko Sawada. This was a nice addition to the day and allowed for further exploration in the Japanese culture and different mediums.
Not only did this event enlighten me on many different authors and novels (many of which have become quick favourites of mine since), but I also learnt a lot regarding literature in Japan. One of the most interesting things was the fact that genre doesn’t exist in the same way as it does in Western literature. This sounds like a much more freeing way to write, instead of being confined to tropes and conventions of a particular genre. Of course, you don’t need to follow them in order for your book to be considered of that genre, but it is likely to still be there in the writer’s subconscious.
What also stood out was the working relationships between authors and translators. Hiromi Itō was there with her translator, Jeffrey Angles. Now, Itō’s work has a strong feminist voice and doesn’t shy away from difficult topics that women experience. So, it was fascinating to hear Itō speak of how Angles has truly managed to capture her voice in his translations and she can still see herself in it. Watching them perform ‘Killing Kanoko’ together was incredible, the mix of English and Japanese and how they would seamlessly trade between each other as if they were of one mind has stuck with me ever since. They were also both very kind at the book signing too!
Tomihiko Morimi was there with the translator of his The Night is Short, Walk On Girl, Emily Balistrieri. The enthusiasm that Balistrieri showed when talking about Morimi’s work was so infectious. It was really nice to hear how much he appreciated and understood Morimi’s writing and it was clear it was more than just a job for him but a genuine passion too, which I believe is vital for being able to breathe life into a translation. Balistrieri complemented Morimi well, as Morimi was very humble regarding his accomplishments and how beloved his writing is whereas Balistrieri was more than willing to speak of how brilliant his work is, something that I believe is definitely deserved after reading both Penguin Highway and The Night is Short, Walk On Girl.
I’m thrilled that I was able to attend this event and got to have a brief chat with most of the authors and translators there. I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for more events like this as not only is it eye-opening to a different culture of Literature, but, it also introduces me to some amazing authors and novels that I may not have found otherwise.
Huge thanks to the British Library, the Japan Foundation and everyone else involved in planning and working this event!
Queen Briseis has been stolen from her conquered homeland and given as a concubine to a foreign warrior. The warrior is Achilles: famed hero, loathed enemy, ruthless butcher, darkly troubled spirit. Briseis’s fate is now indivisibly entwined with his.
No one knows it yet, but there are just ten weeks to go until the Fall of Troy, the end of this long and bitter war. This is the start of The Iliad: the most famous war story ever told. The next ten weeks will be a story of male power, male ego, male violence. But what of the women? The thousands of female slaves in the soldiers’ camp – in the laundry, at the loom, laying out the dead? Briseis is one of their number – and she will be our witness to history.
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