A dreadfully beautiful Gothic thriller that begins

after women have discovered everything

White Horse, the second collection of novels by Kang Hwagil—the novelist currently in the spotlight as the winner of the 2020 Young Writers' Award—has been released. Kang has pioneered a new genre of women’s thrillers in Korean literature by employing the conventions of thrillers and subtly transforming issues of hatred and violence against women into compelling fiction. Her works, which use the “unreliable narrator” to heighten the anxiety and fear of characters uncertain about their situations, ultimately reveal unexpected stories and captivate readers with an aura unique to Kang's novels.

With White Horse, Kang Hwagil’s female characters have begun to transition into “the narrator who knows it all.” Their perspectives, broadened by a thorough understanding of their situations for survival, chillingly reflect not only the threats to women's bodies but also the extensive structures that subtly oppress women, such as gossip, unjust perceptions, and customs. Once Kang’s characters perceive this structure that briefly appears and hides like a ghost, a suspense with a whole new texture unfolds. The intimate tension derived from knowing everything seeps through the novel’s dense plot and gradually consumes the reader's mind.

Why did women have to endure fishy love and hatred?

How could some people remain ignorant for eternity?

Keen questions that pierce the narratives of women from earlier generations

Contains the winning work of the 2020 Young Writer's Award, "Blessings"!

"Blessings," the winner of the Young Writers’ Award, is a condensation of the changes in Kang Hwagil’s novels. This short story sharply points out that, under patriarchy, “not knowing” can be a form of power. In "Blessings,” the narrator attends her first chesa ceremony—the Confucian traditional ritual that honors ancestors—for her husband’s family since her marriage. Unlike her husband, who is carefree and oblivious, she quickly sees through the family’s conflicts and even dreams of using them to her advantage. Just when she senses that other female members of her husband’s family also share this desire, she discovers a new, twisted solidarity formed by women’s secret agreements and connivance in order to survive within the unfair structure.

Support from Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.