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In Pyongyang, North Korea, a lonely government official’s passion for banned foreign books drives him to acts of startling heroism and rebellion.
Mr Han is a guide to foreign tourists visiting the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. On the surface, he appears to be a model citizen, repeating the official version of history as written by the all-powerful, totalitarian government.
But unknown to anyone, Han has been living a dangerous, double-life as a passionate reader of banned foreign books, and dreams of a life outside the brutal regime.
Now a passionate affair with enigmatic cellist Mae will drive Han to do the unthinkable: risk his life by telling the truth about the regime to two undercover Western journalists, laying bare the wounds of his – and his country’s – deeply tragic past.
But Han’s secret life is about to unravel in ways he never anticipated. In his longing to find the freedom and love he has only ever read about, Han will discover the true price of freedom, and the human spirit’s power to conjure hope in the most hopeless of places.
From the author of Amazon bestseller Official Secrets – over 100k copies sold, millions of Kindle Unlimited pages read, and thousands of five-star reviews – comes a novel of soaring imagination, painstaking research, and breathtaking observation.
It is a novel for our times, and a reminder of the universal power of storytelling.
Perfect for fans of All The Light We Cannot See, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Where The Crawdads Sing, and is a particularly great choice for book groups.
A BBC RADIO SCOTLAND Book of the Week.
SUNDAY TIMES ‘NOTABLE NEW FICTION’
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY ‘BEST NEW FICTION’
‘A bold new voice, wise beyond his years.’ Ewan Morrison
‘His expert turn of phrase is lean and nuanced.’ Gutter Magazine
‘Clever without being showy, this is mature and accomplished writing.’ The Big Issue
Genre: Literary Fiction
Mr Han is a guide to foreign tourists visiting the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. On the surface, he appears to be a model citizen, repeating the official version of history as written by the all-powerful, totalitarian government.
But unknown to anyone, Han has been living a dangerous, double-life as a passionate reader of banned foreign books, and dreams of a life outside the brutal regime.
Now a passionate affair with enigmatic cellist Mae will drive Han to do the unthinkable: risk his life by telling the truth about the regime to two undercover Western journalists, laying bare the wounds of his – and his country’s – deeply tragic past.
But Han’s secret life is about to unravel in ways he never anticipated. In his longing to find the freedom and love he has only ever read about, Han will discover the true price of freedom, and the human spirit’s power to conjure hope in the most hopeless of places.
From the author of Amazon bestseller Official Secrets – over 100k copies sold, millions of Kindle Unlimited pages read, and thousands of five-star reviews – comes a novel of soaring imagination, painstaking research, and breathtaking observation.
It is a novel for our times, and a reminder of the universal power of storytelling.
Perfect for fans of All The Light We Cannot See, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Where The Crawdads Sing, and is a particularly great choice for book groups.
A BBC RADIO SCOTLAND Book of the Week.
SUNDAY TIMES ‘NOTABLE NEW FICTION’
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY ‘BEST NEW FICTION’
‘A bold new voice, wise beyond his years.’ Ewan Morrison
‘His expert turn of phrase is lean and nuanced.’ Gutter Magazine
‘Clever without being showy, this is mature and accomplished writing.’ The Big Issue
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Drennan is no coward, he has tackled his subject with courage, with commitment and with style. This is a bold new voice, wise before his years." - Ewan Morrison
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