'Stunning... Profound... This novel will devastate you and then still you with its wise meditations on love and loss. I couldn’t put it down.'

'This is historical fiction at its very best! I am astonished by Juhea's talent.'

'Juhea Kim's sweeping debut is pure reading pleasure. Rapturous, ravishing, and gorgeously rendered, Beasts of a Little Land is a portal to a whole world teeming with life, so full of wonders I wanted it never to end.'

'Beasts of a Little Land is a heartbreaking story rendered mythic by Kim’s gorgeous prose.' 

'A magnificent, mesmerizing story of love and war… Cinematic in its scope, this is the type of novel that the reader finishes both with pleasure (for its satisfying denouement and pleasing circularity) and with sadness (at having to leave the story behind).'

'Some people say that all stories are about either love or war. Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century Korea, Kim’s epic debut novel is about both.'

'Covering most of the twentieth century across the Korean peninsula, Kim’s debut novel wondrously reveals broken families and surprising alliances created by uncontrollable circumstances. Kim creates multiple narrative prongs, effortlessly navigating overlaps and disconnects... Richly alluring and significant.'

'Gorgeous prose and unforgettable characters combine to make a literary masterpiece.'

'Kim's dreamy, intense debut is both a sure-footed historical account of the Korean struggle for independence from Japan and the emotionally fraught story of several people whose lives are inextricably tied together... The prose is ravishing.'

'Elegant and wise, lush and immersive, Beasts of a Little Land is Tolstoyan in its sweep and ambition as it brings to life the Korean struggle against Japanese occupation and the making of a modern nation in the first half of the 20th century. Juhea Kim is a conjurer of rare ability whose magnificent debut utterly enchants.'

'In Beasts of a Little Land, Juhea Kim has taken the concept of inyeon – human thread – to weave a beautiful story in which human connections and encounters are preordained. She explores the ideas of fate, fortune, and destiny against the backdrop of the great turbulence and historic events that transpired on the Korean peninsula during the twentieth century. A spectacular debut filled with great characters and heart.'

'You wouldn't know from reading it that Beasts of a Little Land is Kim's debut novel. There is no shortage of ambition on display here, and fleet-footed narrative pacing to match it... A book written with warmth [and] wisdom.' 

'Beasts of a Little Land is an emotional, raw, and moving novel about friendship and the struggle for Korean independence. It is a novel unlike anything I've read. Most importantly, though, it is a novel about love. Juhea Kim writes beautifully in a way that makes it difficult to put this novel down. I loved it.'

'An immersive historical novel set in occupied Korea with a sweeping cast of characters whose lives intersect over half a century.' 

'Jade is a courtesan, sold into the trade by her family when starvation is the only other option for her. JungHo is a beggar on the streets of Seoul. Together, they are the compelling protagonists of an exciting debut that takes us through a vast arc of 20th-century Korean history, lending an achingly human lens to sweeping historic events that still reverberate today.'

'Juhea Kim's ambitious debut novel is an epic saga spanning fifty years of Korean history... It's a potent and immersive reading experience, alive to the particulars of its place and time. Intimate but politically resonant, it's perfect for fans of Min Jin Lee and Isabelle Allende.'

'Gorgeous… This transporting and elegant tale of complicated characters whose lives intertwine during the Korean independence movement of the early Twentieth Century is not to be missed… Kim's vivid and precise descriptions of place glow.'

'Full of Korean myth and historical detail, it’s an immersive read for a long weekend.'