Violets

We join San in 1970s rural South Korea, a young girl ostracised from her community.

She meets a girl called Namae, and they become friends until one afternoon changes everything. Following a moment of physical intimacy in a minari field, Namae violently rejects San, setting her on a troubling path of quashed desire and isolation.

We next meet San, aged twenty-two, as she starts a job in a flower shop. There, we are introduced to a colourful cast of characters, including the shop's mute owner, the other florist Su-ae, and the customers that include a sexually aggressive businessman and a photographer, who San develops an obsession for.

Throughout, San's moment with Namae lingers in the back of her mind.

A story of desire and violence about a young woman who everyone forgot, Violets is a captivating and sensual read, full of tragedy and beauty.

'Mesmerising, dreamlike and prescient in its sharpness and attentiveness to the dynamics between women and the male and female gaze' — Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

'Darkly beautiful, Violets explores the toll of abandonment and relentless marginalisation' — Frances Cha, author of If I Had Your Face

'A subtle, deep, unique work of true literature' — Defne Suman, author of The Silence of Scheherazade

ISBN: 9781474623551 | Published: 12 April 2022 (first published 2001) | Trade paperback | 240 pages