Lemon

Written by Kwon Yeo-Sun

Narrated by Greg Chun, Greta Jung and Jaine Ye

PARASITE MEETS THE GOOD SON IN THIS PIERCING PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT
OF THREE WOMEN HAUNTED BY A BRUTAL, UNSOLVED CRIME.
In the summer of 2002, when Korea is abuzz over hosting the FIFA World Cup,
eighteen-year-old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School
Beauty Murder. Two suspects quickly emerge: rich kid Shin Jeongjun, whose car
Hae-on was last seen in, and delivery boy Han Manu, who witnessed her there
just a few hours before her death. But when Jeongjun’s alibi checks out, and no
evidence can be pinned on Manu, the case goes cold.
Seventeen years pass without any resolution for those close to Hae-on, and the
grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular.
Unable to move on with her life, Da-on tries in her own twisted way to recover
some of what she’s lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened.
Shifting between the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on’s classmates struck
in different ways by her otherworldly beauty, Lemon ostensibly takes the shape of
a crime novel. But identifying the perpetrator is not the main objective here:
Kwon Yeo-sun uses this well-worn form to craft a searing, timely exploration of
privilege, jealousy, trauma, and how we live with the wrongs we have endured
and inflicted in turn.

Kwon Yeo-sun was born in Andong, South Korea, and now lives in Seoul. In 1996 she received the Sangsang Literary Award for her debut novel, Niche of Green. Her subsequent novels and short stories have received numerous literary awards, including the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Yi Sang Literary Prize, and the Oh Yeong-su Literature Award, among others. Lemon is her first novel to be published in English.

Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver, Canada. She received the 2018 TA First Translation Prize and the 16th LTI Korea Translation Award for her translation of Han Yujoo’s The Impossible Fairy Tale, which was also a finalist for both the 2018 PEN Translation Prize and the 2018 National Translation Award. Her recent translations include Ha Seong-nan’s Bluebeard’s First Wife, Ancco’s Nineteen, and Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s Grass.

Author Residence: Seoul, South Korea

Author Hometown: Andong, South Korea

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Translator: Janet Hong
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705037478

Kwon Yeo-Sun

Kwon Yeo-sun is an award-winning Korean writer. She has won the Sangsang Literary Award, Oh Yeongsu Literature Award, Yi Sang Literary Prize, Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Tong-ni Literature Prize and Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award. Lemon is her first novel to be published in the English language.

Reviews for Lemon

[steve02476 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Intriguing novel but too much of it was confusing to me, perhaps due to my own inattention or my own lack of picking up on subtle clues. Interesting slice of life in S Korea though.

[datrappert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another bizarre story from Korea, this time concerning the murder of a beautiful high school student and her younger's sisters quest to find out who did it. This short book is told from multiple viewpoints, like the recent Japanese novel, Confessions, which is also about a murder, but much more effective in the end. Well done.

[kayanelson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, a small book that packs a big punch. The main plot is that a girl’s sister is murdered and no one is convicted of the crime. The slow revealing of what might have happened is fascinating. I know I think I know who did it but I’m not quite sure. The story is told from different viewpoints. Some people found that confusing but enough hints were given so that I knew who’s voice it was. This is the type of book that should be reread. Read it for the first time for the plot and the second time for the thoughts.

[kulmona · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for my e-ARC.Hae-on AKA Kim Hye-eun, beauty queen, has passed away. Not naturally. She was murdered...brutally. For years, the case goes unsolved. The one most affected by her death is Da-on, her younger sister. They were not close. Far from it. Da-on lived in the shadow of her sister even after death. Yet, she was obsessed. She just had to investigate.This book was not at all what I expected, a thriller told from multiple perspectives. Totally my fault for not reading the blurb carefully. Although this book was short, it felt very long and tedious. The writing was all-over-the-place and seemed like random, nonsensical ramblings. The time leaps were arbitrary. Also, the narrator was not clear. It would have helped to title the chapters with the name of the character.