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Book Cover for: Years and Years, Jungeun Hwang

Years and Years

Jungeun Hwang

From the internationally acclaimed author of One Hundred Shadows and I'll Go On

Years and Years opens with the elderly Yi Sunil, devoted housewife and mother of three, making her annual pilgrimage to a remote village in South Korea to visit her grandfather's grave--likely for the final time. What follows is a multigenerational exploration of desires thwarted by societal obligations and mores for the women in this family.


Sejin, the middle child, keeps her sexuality closeted, while her older sister, Yeongjin, finds herself financially responsible for the rest of the family, forcing her to give up on her personal dreams. Meanwhile, the youngest, Mansu, leaves the family for New Zealand, where he is free to pursue his own career and life, ironically supported by the sacrifices of his mother and sisters.


Tracing the lives of the family's three women, Years and Years exposes the ways in which, despite the empathy we harbor for our loved ones, we inevitably trap one another in particular roles, while also illuminating our resolve to carry on through the constraints of time and tradition.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Open Letter
  • Publish Date: Jun 18th, 2024
  • Pages: 200
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.40in - 0.40in - 0.20lb
  • EAN: 9781960385000
  • Categories: LiteraryWorld Literature - KoreaWomen

About the Author

Hwang, Jungeun: - Born in 1976, Hwang Jungeun is one of the bright young things of Korean literature, having published two collections of short stories and three novels to date. One Hundred Shadows (2010), her first novel, was both a critical and commercial success; its mix of oblique fantasy, hard-edge social critique, and offbeat romance garnered the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award and the Korean Booksellers' Award.
Hong, Janet: - Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver, Canada. Her work has appeared in Brick: A Literary Journal, Literary Hub, Asia Literary Review, Words Without Borders, and the Korea Times. Her other translations include Han Yujoo's The Impossible Fairy Tale and Ancco's Bad Friends.

Praise for this book

"There is an unforgettable, curious beauty to be found [in One Hundred Shadows]."--Han Kang, Winner of the Man Booker International Prize