Violets By Shin, Kyung-sook

''Dreamy, immersive and evocative'' TLS

''Darkly beautiful'' Frances Cha

''Strange and gripping'' Guardian

San is twenty-two and alone when she happens upon a job at a flower shop in Seoul''s bustling city centre.

Haunted by childhood rejection, she stumbles through life - painfully vulnerable, stifled, and unsure. She barely registers to others, especially by the ruthless standards of 1990s South Korea.

But over the course of one summer, San meets a curious cast of characters: the nonspeaking shop owner, a brash co-worker, aggressive customers and an enigmatic magazine photographer. Fuelled by a quiet desperation to jump-start her life, she dares, briefly, to dream of connection in an unforgiving world.

Translated by Anton Hur