Beasts of a Little Land is a captivating debut novel from Juhea Kim, an epic of love and war spanning decades that the author somehow smuggles into a brisk, 400-page book. Set in the early 20th century, soon after the Japanese annexation of Korea, the novel follows dozens of characters but focuses chiefly on the fates of Jade and JungHo. The novel begins with an exciting passage where JungHo's father, a hunter, barely survives an encounter with a tiger and a detachment of Japanese soldiers deep in the snow-covered mountains, quickly giving readers the impression of a beautiful country where most people are surviving on a knife's edge. Soon, the narrative moves on to JungHo, a born fighter who becomes the leader of a band of beggars and pickpockets scraping by in Seoul, and Jade, who is sold by her impoverished parents to become a courtesan.
Their paths intertwine again and again at crucial points in their lives, as the decades pass by and they are swept along by the currents of history, particularly by the brutally repressed Korean independence movement. As with any great love story, their relationship repeatedly sparks to life only to be frustrated by events both mundane and historically consequential. The times the characters must survive are often violent and harsh, but they maintain a surprising tenderheartedness, along with a deep need for love and purpose. Readers should expect to be swept along themselves by the waves of passion and tragedy that make the novel so appealing. --Hank Stephenson, the Sun magazine, manuscript reader