Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

As the Korean independence movement gathers pace, two children meet on the streets of Seoul. Fate will bind them through decades of love and war. They just don’t know it yet.

It is 1917, and Korea is under Japanese occupation. With the threat of famine looming, ten-year-old Jade is sold by her desperate family to Miss Silver's courtesan school in the bustling city of Pyongyang. As the Japanese army tears through the country, she is forced to flee to the southern city of Seoul.

Soon, her path crosses with that of an orphan named JungHo, a chance encounter that will lead to a life-changing friendship. But when JungHo is pulled into the revolutionary fight for independence, Jade must decide between following her  own ambitions and risking everything for the one she loves. Sweeping through five decades of Korean history, Juhea Kim's sparkling debut is an intricately woven tale of love stretched to breaking point, and two people who refuse to let go.

Longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Longlist 2022

Longlisted for the Nota Bene Prize 2023.

About the Author

Juhea Kim's internationally bestselling debut novel, Beasts of a Little Land, was a finalist for the 2022 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. It won the 2024 Yasnaya Polyana Award, Russia's biggest annual literary prize awarded by the Leo Tolstoy Estate-Museum. Juhea is donating the entire prize money to Siberian tiger and Amur leopard conservation. Her debut has been published in 13 countries to date and a TV series adaptation is currently in development. 
Juhea's second novel, City of Night Birds, is out in Hardback since Nov 2024.

She has given lectures and workshops at Arizona State University, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, the University of São Paulo, Seoul International Book Fair, and more. In addition to writing fiction, Juhea also works with essays and narrative journalism focusing on the environment. She serves as a goodwill ambassador for the Korean Tiger Leopard Conservation Fund. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Art and Archaeology. She lives in London.