Kwon Yeo-sun was born in Andong, South Korea, and now lives
in Seoul. In 1996 she received the Sangsang Literary Award for her
debut novel, Niche of Green. Her subsequent novels and short
stories have received numerous literary awards, including the
Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Yi Sang Literary Prize, and Oh
Yeong-su Literature Award, among others. Lemon is her first novel
to be published in English.
Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver,
Canada. She received the 2018 TA First Translation Prize and the
16th LTI Korea Translation Award for her translation of Han Yujoo’s
The Impossible Fairy Tale, which was also a finalist for both the
2018 PEN Translation Prize and the 2018 National Translation Award.
Her recent translations include Ha Seong-nan’s Bluebeard’s First
Wife, Ancco’s Nineteen, and Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s Grass.
“Lemon is easy to devour in one sitting, but…should be read slowly
and closely in order to appreciate it when Kwon pulls off what I
can describe only as a sleight of hand…Kwon’s writing is masterly.
Her sentences are crisp, concise, and potent; just one contains as
much meaning as two or three of your average storyteller’s…Her
hypnotic effect will stay with the reader long after the last page
has been read. You’ll wish there were more; but you’ll be grateful
it ended as it did…a bright, intense, refreshing story.” —Oyinkan
Braithwaite, New York Times Book Review
“A striking teenage girl is found dead…The victim’s sister, Da-On,
still obsessed with the murder [years later], revisits some of its
principal figures in unnerving, elliptical chapters.” —New York
Times, New Works of Fiction to Read This Season
“A haunting literary crime story…Razor-sharp observations of class,
gender, and privilege in contemporary Korea…[a] page-turner.”
—Cosmopolitan
“Kwon Yeo-sun brings eerie beauty to crime fiction.” —The
Guardian
“An idiosyncratic and beguiling mystery…Lemon surveys the damage
wrought by a single heinous act on a number of interconnected
lives, and does so with impressive deftness.” —The Spectator
“Kwon is masterful at maintaining a low level of doubt…Hong’s
translation is spare, lyrical…This narrative style mimics that of
the whodunnit, dropping clues and red herrings along the way, but
there are other, more compelling, mysteries we’re trying to
solve…[a] shrewd diagnosis of a culture that disempowers
women—commodifying and consuming them, one after another, until
their appeal wears out.” —Vulture
“A deftly written exploration of life and death, grief, revenge,
and acceptance of the unknown, all cloaked in an engaging murder
mystery.” —Ms. Magazine, Most Anticipated Reads
“A powerhouse thriller told in elliptical interlinked stories…A
deservedly successful Stateside debut that should assure future
imports.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Lemon stands among the best in the growing body of translated
Korean thrillers…The novel carefully positions the central crime
within a larger context of class and competition. The complexity of
the story betrays its small size, but the driving narrative makes
it difficult not to read in one sitting.” —CrimeReads, Most
Anticipated Books of the Year
“Through skillful, emotional prose, [Lemon] offers tantalizing
hints about the truth without giving away all of its secrets…a
haunting novel about women trapped in an endless cycle of trauma
and grief.” —Foreword Reviews (starred review)
“Kwon’s brief, fierce novel takes daring leaps through time…A
chilling examination of the repercussions of violence.” —Kirkus
Reviews
“Kwon’s powerful English-language debut explores issues of
jealousy, loss, and physical beauty…Those ready to sink into a
creepy and intense yet understated emotional experience will find
that this story hits and sticks.” —Publishers Weekly
“[A] crime novel about privilege and trauma. Salacious and deep!”
—Nylon
“With taut, crisp writing, Kwon Yeo-sun deftly walks the
tightrope of psychological suspense, and at the same time
transcends the well-known framework of the crime novel to explore
the emotional depths of grief, guilt, privilege, and trauma. A
smart, well-crafted page-turner.” —Tami Hoag, #1 New York Times
bestselling author
“With taut, steely prose, Kwon burrows into the details surrounding
the shocking murder of a beautiful girl. Though Lemon takes the
form of a mystery and there’s psychological suspense that will grip
you all the way to the end, it isn’t just a whodunnit. Hidden on
every page are explorations of grief and guilt, how one should go
on after a tragedy. It jolts with its brilliance and tartness. It’s
simply electric.” —Kyung-sook Shin, author of Please Look After Mom
and I’ll Be Right There
“A confounding masterpiece, Lemon is a meditation on grief, death,
beauty, God, and art, wrapped in the mourning clothes of a murder
mystery. One of the most profound page-turners you will ever
encounter, and the first English translation of a major Korean
author who should be on everyone’s radar.” —Matthew Salesses,
author of Craft in the Real World
“Chilling, suspenseful, and disconcerting. A story of taking things
into one’s own hands, when driven to despair by injustice and
grief. I couldn’t put it down and read deep into the night until I
finished it, with my heart hammering.” —Frances Cha, author of If I
Had Your Face
“Lemon opens with the death of a high school student but Kwon
Yeo-sun quickly cracks open the secret rivalries between teenage
girls to reveal an unending silent scream of loneliness, cruelty,
and nihilism that goes on to permeate their adult lives. What a
jet-black switchblade of a book!” —Sandi Tan, director of Shirkers
and author of Lurkers
“Kwon Yeo-sun’s Lemon is a gripping mystery with an eccentric and
thought-provoking edge. It’s quite the unputdownable
read!” —June Hur, author of The Silence of Bones and The
Forest of Stolen Girls
“I found this book charming, beguiling, and unique. At the heart of
this ‘mystery’ is a poetic meditation on grief, guilt, and the
meaning of life. In the end, Lemon, like a great painting, makes
you see the world differently.” —Patrick Hoffman, author of Clean
Hands and Every Man a Menace
“Lemon is a chilling yet deeply moving story about grief, trauma,
life, death, and the shattered pieces left behind by those who are
gone. The humanity of Kwon’s characters will break your heart on
every page.” —An Yu, author of Braised Pork
“Lemon is a deliciously rewarding novel that delves into
assumptions about power, wealth, beauty, love, ability, and right
to compensation. How well do we know each other? How do we move on
from violent loss? I’m in awe of Kwon’s gorgeous prose and
intricately crafted mystery at the heart of this elegant thriller.”
—Jimin Han, author of A Small Revolution
“[Lemon] delves into the grief of having lost a family member,
while retaining all the essential elements of a page-turning
whodunnit.” —Chosun Ilbo
“[A story of revenge that takes you down] an unexpected road…with
an engaging plot…that packs in a lot more than a personal vendetta,
such as the meaning of life and death, and fury at a biased,
partial society.” —Hankyure21
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