[This Week's Novels] "The Wizard of Tiger Castle" and More

The Wizard of Tiger Castle

This fantasy novel is set in the imaginary Renaissance kingdom of Esquaveta and follows the intertwined destinies and loves of Princess Tulia, apprentice scribe Pito, and court wizard Anatole. To save Pito, who faces execution for love, Anatole creates a memory potion, and the three escape the castle to the "Lowlands" beyond its walls, fleeing both a wedding and political intrigue. Along their journey, the meanings of science and magic, love and freedom are wittily explored, and the voices and courage of minor, unrecorded figures in history are movingly brought to life. (Written by Louis Sachar | Changbi)

SF Boda Vol. 5: Shelter

This series features five new science fiction short stories centered on the common theme of "shelter." In worlds shaped by climate disasters, ecological collapse, interstellar wars, time loops, and post-human extinction, "shelter" becomes a space for survival as well as a site for exploring new possibilities, ethics, and relationships. Works by Kim Dalli, Jo Si-hyun, Kim Sung-jung, Lee Kyung-hee, and Kim Sung-il expand fundamental questions of humanity, identity, care, desire, violence, and peace through science fiction imagination, reminding us that the story itself is the "final shelter" where humanity hides and survives. (Written by Kim Dalli and four others | Moonji Publishing)

Welcoming

This novel tells the story of young people who tried to preserve love and friendship amid the tragedies of forced labor and "comfort women" victims during the late Japanese colonial period. The protagonist, Jiyu, is inspired by her grandfather's memoir to reconstruct the hidden lives of Hae-rim, Jong-tae, and Lee-ok into a novel. Hae-rim is forcibly taken to a comfort station, leaving behind her beloved Jong-tae, who, burdened by guilt, joins the independence movement and tries to find her. The journey of these youths, who strove to hold onto their feelings for each other even in an era of war and violence, shows how love can become the strength to resist the most brutal times. By reviving historical realities in literary form, the novel brings the issues of "comfort women" and forced labor into the present with literary significance. (Written by Kim Misoo | Eunhaengnamu)

Night in Malaga

This is the story of Hyungwoo, who loses the meaning of life after a series of family suicides and, on the brink of death, meets his nine-, nineteen-, and twenty-nine-year-old selves on the surreal beach of "Malaga." Confronting past wounds and regrets, he embarks on a journey of healing. Reliving moments with his lost family, he comes to understand the roots of his guilt and sorrow and regains the will to live. Returning to reality, he learns solidarity and the breathing of recovery by freediving with other suicide survivors, breaking free from isolation. The novel delicately portrays South Korea's high suicide rate, the grief of those left behind, and the contagion of depression, ultimately conveying that only by facing sorrow and reaching out to one another can we find the breath to live again. (Written by Cho Soogyung | Hankyoreh Publishing)

A Promise from Afar

This book chronicles over forty years of history involving former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong, the medical staff, and island residents, who established a secondary hospital on Nowhwad Island, Wando, in 1978. It vividly depicts the background of the island medical project launched to address healthcare blind spots, the hardships of building the hospital, and how the dedication of the medical staff transformed the lives of the islanders. The book also focuses on efforts to open the island’s future through scholarship programs and how, even after the hospital’s closure, residents voluntarily reimagined the space as a welfare center to sustain their community. In 2023, the establishment of a health care center was added. The book delivers the message that "it is not the facilities, but the heart and community, that save lives." (Written by Daewoo Foundation | Bookscorp)