We Do Not Part
Paperback Published on: 05/03/2026; Language: English, Korean (Original language of a translated text)
Price: £9.99
Bookseller Reviews
View all
The cost of remembrance
Memory, pain, creation, human connection, and the cost of bearing witness (as well as, perhaps, the duty to do so) are the weighty threads running through ... READ MORE
Memorable, striking - a story that needs to be told.
What starts as a story of a friendship becomes a surreal journey through an almost monochrome, frozen landscape. Han Kang invokes the cold and silence perf... READ MORE
Haunting, beautiful. Like nothing else.
A quietly devastating and achingly intimate novel that is impossible to put down. This book is an ode to grief, love, history, and the way these things imp... READ MORE
Deeply mysterious and tragic
This isn't an easy book to read, in terms of its subject matter.
A young woman, Kyungha, has a memorable dream, but what does it mean?
She is called to a... READ MORE
Pierces you like a lance
What an incredible work of art. This novel sweeps you up in a snow drift, hushed on all sides. There is no closure to be found, a haunting allegory to the ... READ MORE
Chilling
Han Kang is a master at what she does.
It is beautifully written and completely immersive, yet harrowing and the descriptions will chill you right thro... READ MORE
Han Kang's best work to date!
A poignant novel revealing the traumatic history of Jeju Island, bordering on the genre of literary horror with its surrealism and brutal honesty. I can't ... READ MORE
A Poetic Gut-Punch
We Do Not Part feels like an absolute gut-punch. Kang explores the depths of meaningless massacres and trauma inflicted on the residents of Jeju island in ... READ MORE
Disturbing, Unsettling and Powerful
We Do Not Part is an expertly crafted narrative focusing on the importance of memory and friendship. Each sentence is crafted with expert precision and cre... READ MORE
A Hauntingly Beautiful Masterpiece!
A poetic reflection on friendship, memory, trauma and place. Han Kangs stunning ability to create art out of trauma weaves through her characters and her p... READ MORE
Haunting, beautiful, sad, strange, at times scary.
It took me a little while to get into but once I did… incredibly haunting, beautiful, sad, strange, at times scary. I loved Human Acts and this was obvious... READ MORE
I had not reconciled with life, but I had to resume living.
This book is a dream. It has a nightmare logic that pulls the reader deeper down into the abyss. It has a slippery quality to it. It feels like a branch ha... READ MORE
As stark and beautiful as the winter snow
This beautiful book is not an ‘easy’ read, requiring the reader (or this reader) to slowly absorb the meaning behind the words, but it is absolutely immers... READ MORE
A winter dreamscape
'When I open my eyes, the silence and the darkness are still waiting, unchanged.
It feels as though invisible snowflakes fill the space between us. As tho... READ MORE
A masterpiece...
My thanks to the publisher for the chance to read this latest novel by an author whose work I already hugely admire. We Do Not Part is another masterpiece ... READ MORE
Synopsis
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR FOYLES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
AN OBSERVER BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY SO FAR
Like a long winter’s dream, this haunting and visionary new novel from 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang takes us on a journey from contemporary South Korea into its painful history
‘One of the most profound and skilled writers working on the contemporary world stage’ Deborah Levy
Beginning one morning in December, We Do Not Part traces the path of Kyungha as she travels from the city of Seoul into the forests of Jeju Island, to the home of her old friend Inseon. Hospitalized following an accident, Inseon has begged Kyungha to hasten there to feed her beloved pet bird, who will otherwise die.
Kyungha takes the first plane to Jeju, but a snowstorm hits the island the moment she arrives, plunging her into a world of white. Beset by icy wind and snow squalls, she wonders if she will arrive in time to save the bird – or even survive the terrible cold which envelops her with every step. As night falls, she struggles her way to Inseon’s house, unaware as yet of the descent into darkness which awaits her.
There, the long-buried story of Inseon’s family surges into light, in dreams and memories passed from mother to daughter, and in a painstakingly assembled archive documenting a terrible massacre on the island seventy years before.
We Do Not Part is a hymn to friendship, a eulogy to the imagination and above all an indictment against forgetting.
Translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
‘A vital voice and a writer of extraordinary humanity. Her work is a gift to us all’ Max Porter
‘A remarkable novelist who reflects our modern condition with courage, imagination, and keen intelligence’ Min Jin Lee
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WARWICK PRIZE FOR WOMEN IN TRANSLATION
Publisher information
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- ISBN: 9780241997048
- Number of pages: 384
- Dimensions: 197 x 128 x 24 mm
- Weight: 307g
- Languages: English, Korean (Original language of a translated text)
Customer Reviews
View allDense and sophisticated
What Han does in this book is articulate a harrowing story but to express it through a delicately lucid and austere prose. Strikingly, she allows this nove... READ MORE
Beautifully written and compelling
Published 6 February. A novel almost in two parts but both parts are beautifully written and compelling. Han Kang herself in her lecture given when she rec... READ MORE
Another immersive, lyrical story from Kang
I enjoyed Human Acts from Kang so I was very excited to read more from her.
I loved the vivid descriptions of the snow, which made it feel perfect to r... READ MORE
Profoundly powerful
“
I found this book extremely difficult, which is an insane way to start a book review... I really did.
I have been in awe of Han Kang for a few years, ever since I stumbled upon The Vegetarian. I'm also a huge fan of Human Acts - but my favourite by far is t... READ MORE
A brilliant novel
Han Kang, now globally famous following her Nobel Prize Award, has this new novel, beautifully written, full of quiet devastation, to show the English spea... READ MORE
Incredible
We Do Not Part is a beautifully haunting exploration of grief, memory, and human connection. Han Kang’s prose is delicate yet deeply affecting, weaving tog... READ MORE
A lot
Kyungha has been working on creative projects that examine the history of atrocities in Korea. Haunted by nightmares, she invites her friend, Inseon to hel... READ MORE
Han Kang's "We Do Not Part" is a beautifully written and emotionally shattering journey
Nobel Prize winner returns with "We Do Not Part," a fictionalised examination of the horrors of the Jeju Massacre. Kang tells the story of the massacre thr... READ MORE
An incredible and moving story
Having read and been moved by The Vegetarian I couldn't wait to read this book. I was not disappointed.. It is so emotional yet tranquil in its telling. Re... READ MORE
Like freshly fallen snow that becomes an avalanche
In spare and precise prose, the novel is a mosaic of stories, dreams and impressions, nothing ever quite what it is and nothing ever fully in sight. Set in... READ MORE
Phenomenal Entry to Han Kang's Work
I feared I might be too late to hop on the Han Kang train but this was a scorching introduction to their talent and I am now desperately sourcing as many o... READ MORE
Haunting masterpiece
Han Kang’s We Do Not Part is an atmospheric and haunting novel that has stayed with me after reading.
The novel follows Kyungha, a writer struggling with... READ MORE
Where is the signature on the signed book
I’m excited to read the book. However, I just got the book and can’t find the signature on the book - so why are you charging for signed books?
Emotional and heartbreaking
I began this story with pretty low expectations because of the strange, dreamlike nature of the beginning. I'm not one for poetic and dreamlike prose. It b... READ MORE
Haunting and Lyrical
We Do Not Part by Han Kang is a haunting and lyrical read set in contemporary South Korea. The novel begins as we follow Kyungha, who travels from the city... READ MORE
Incredible and necessary
This book was changing and beautifully written, with the story itself being both mysterious and heartaching. Every second was engaging, even the slowest pa... READ MORE
Latest translation of the Nobel Prize Winner - a perfect place to start engaging with her work.
The latest (to be translated into English novel) by the 2024 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature – due to be published later in 2025.
Overall I woul... READ MORE
Powerful, Deep, Moving
I'm not sure that, at almost any point in this book after the arrival at Jeju island, I knew what was going on. But, it is a testament to Kang's writing, t... READ MORE
Exquisite
Whenever I bring up Human Acts, most of the people I talk are surprised to hear that South Korea had, until very recently, a brutal history of suppression ... READ MORE
A Masterclass in Imagery
This feels like a culmination of Kang's work to date. Echoes of Human Acts, The Vegetarian, and The White Book create a feeling of isolation, cold, and the... READ MORE
Favourite author!
We Do Not Part is a haunting and beautifully crafted narrative that intertwines the themes of friendship, memory, and trauma. When Kyungha receives an urge... READ MORE
Friendship and loss
Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature last year so I thought perhaps that her writing might be difficult to approach; I couldn’t have been mo... READ MORE
Enduing friendship and memories
It would be easy to pull in all the superlatives about this novel – without question the writing is outstanding, as is the deft luring in of the reader. Fr... READ MORE
Draws you in…
I got a copy of this through NetGalley so was very excited to have an early read. I always find Han Kang books challenging on an intellectual level so this... READ MORE
Hauntingly beautiful
5 stars. With thanks to Hamish Hamilton and NetGalley for the arc.
This is a book that is both beautiful and devastating. Kyungha, a young Korean writer... READ MORE
Another powerful work from one of world literature's finest writers
"People say 'light as snow'. But snow has its own heft, which is the weight of this drop of water.
People say 'light as a bird'. But birds too have their ... READ MORE
Novel set on JEJU and in SEOUL
The author wrote The Vegetarian, which was the first Korean language novel to win the International Booker Prize (2016). She is also the recipient of the N... READ MORE
Bleeds dream and reality together
This was my first book by Han Kang and it was an interesting experience. The story structure bleeds dream and reality together, which initially I wasn't to... READ MORE
Verified Purchase
Tender and relatable
This book was another beautifully touching addition to the Han Kangs roster of books. I loved the friendship between Inseon and Kyungha, it was tender and ... READ MORE
A haunting novel
A lyrical and exquisite exploration of atrocities in South Korea. This novel was just beautiful with a dreamlike quality. The novel explores the massacre ... READ MORE
Snow, Silence and the Persistence of Memory
Han Kang’s We Do Not Part is a quiet, haunting novel that explores grief, friendship and the lasting impact of historical violence. Set against the snow-co... READ MORE
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