Fraught, disturbing, and beautiful, Han Kang’s novel is about shame and desire, and our faltering attempts to understand the lives of others
- Shortlisted
- The Man Booker International Prize 2018
- Published by Portobello Books
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Hang Kan investigates the fragility, beauty and strangeness of life in a contemplation of memory, loss and the lives that leave this world before us
An unnamed narrator moves to a European city where she is haunted by the story of her older sister, who died a mere two hours after birth. As she contemplates the child’s short life she focuses on whiteness and all it symbolises. The White Book is a meditation on colour, beginning with a list of white things. It is a book about mourning, rebirth and the tenacity of the human spirit.
Han Kang
Han Kang is a South Korean writer. The Vegetarian, her first novel to be translated into English, won the Man Booker International Prize 2016
More about Han Kang 
Deborah Smith
Deborah Smith FRSL is a British translator of Korean fiction. She translated Man Booker International Prize 2016-winning novel The Vegetarian by Korean author Han Kang
More about Deborah Smith Other nominated books by Deborah Smith
Fraught, disturbing, and beautiful, Han Kang’s novel is about shame and desire, and our faltering attempts to understand the lives of others
