Books, baristas and new beginnings inspire this heartening story from Hwang Bo-Reum, a debut author from Korea. As well blended as the finest Colombian coffee, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop builds interconnections between a disparate cast of characters, all seeking new meanings and ways of letting go of the past.

What unites them is the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop where they find unexpected answers through their common love of books. They will come to understand that, in the words of Yeong-ju, the protagonist, ‘reading makes you see with clearer eyes and understand the world better.’

Yeong-ju has long nurtured the dream of owning a bookshop. Disillusioned by the unfulfilled promise of both career and marriage, she abandons both and impulsively buys a bookshop in the quiet residential neighbourhood of Hyunam-Dong in Seoul.

The venture becomes a joint enterprise when she employs Minjun, a university student, as barista. Coffee and books, they find, are an irresistible combination and from an inauspicious beginning, the shop begins to thrive. A large part of the bookshop’s appeal is the colourful group of regulars who come to form a small community of support for Yeong-ju and her shop and, in the process, discover how camaraderie can solve problems and heal old wounds.

Written in straightforward and unpretentious prose, it’s easy to see why the book has become an instant bestseller in Korea. Hwang Bo-Reum has captured a place and cast of characters reminiscent of books like A Man Called Ove or The Storied Life of A J Fikry and created a quirky world that uplifts and exhilarates.

Reviewed by Anne Green

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hwang Bo-reum studied Computer Science and worked as a software engineer. She wrote several essay collections: I Read Every Day, I Tried Kickboxing for the First Time and This Distance is Perfect. Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop is her first novel, which has sold over 150,000 copies in Korea and been sold into 9 territories. Before its release as a paperback, the novel was initially published as an e-book after winning an open contest co-organised by Korean content-publishing platform ‘Brunch’.