Juhea Kim

In 1917, Korea is under Japanese colonial rule, and the lives of its people are shaped by poverty, violence, and the struggle for independence. When ten-year-old Jade is sold by her desperate family to a courtesan school in Pyongyang, she enters a world where survival depends on learning to navigate rigid social hierarchies. After fleeing to Seoul, she meets JungHo, an orphan boy struggling to survive on the streets. Their bond becomes a defining force in both their lives, even as their paths diverge and JungHo becomes involved in the resistance movement. Spanning five decades, from the final years of the Korean Empire through colonial occupation and the upheavals of the twentieth century, this sweeping historical novel follows a cast of interconnected characters whose destinies are shaped by love, ambition, betrayal, and political turmoil. Moving between courtesan houses, bustling cities, and battle-scarred forests, the story explores what it means to fight for personal dignity and national freedom when the world seems determined to take both away.