Princess Bari (Baridegi)

A modern-day quest novel, by one of Korea’s most renowned novelists.

Princess Bari tells the story of a young girl, frail & brave, who escapes from famine & death in North Korea in the 1990s. Seeking refuge in China before crossing oceans in the hold of a cargo ship, she disembarks in London, with its bewildering mix of cultures, religions, & languages.

In this foreign city, Bari finds work as a masseuse—but she doesn’t just heal the body, she also comforts souls, having learnt from her beloved grandmother to read the pain & nightmares of others. Alone & in a strange land, Bari will have to fight, through pain & deepening sadness, to find love & the will to stay alive.

With Princess Bari, Hwang Sok-yong entwines an old Korean myth, which tells of an abandoned princess travelling to the ends of the earth to find the elixir of life that will bring peace to the souls of the dead, with the ethereal & haunting backdrop of the modern world.

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Hwang Sok-yong was born in 1943 & is arguably Korea’s most renowned author. In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorised trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in North & South Korea. Five years later, he was released on a special pardon by the new president. The recipient of Korea’s highest literary prizes & shortlisted for the Prix Femina Étranger, his novels & short stories are published in North & South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, & the United States. Previous novels include The Ancient Garden, The Story of Mister Han, The Guest, and The Shadow of Arms. 

Sora Kim-Russell is a Korean-American living in Seoul, where she teaches translation. She has translated works by Hwang Sok-yong, Jeon Sungtae, Pyun Hye-young & Shin Kyung-sook, among others.