The seven stories in Paul Yoon’s absorbing collection span centuries of the Korean diaspora, from a Korean settlement in east Russia to an upstate New York town. Throughout, Yoon details fully realized and flawed characters attempting to wade through the complexities of immigrant life, including a 16-year-old boy searching for his father, a maid looking for the son she left behind in North Korea, and a couple working at a corner store in the U.K. Through sharp and lyrical prose, Yoon asks urgent questions about what it really means to belong somewhere. —Annabel Gutterman
Buy Now: The Hive and the Honey on Bookshop | Amazon
More Must-Reads From TIME
- What a Photographer Saw in the West Bank
- Accenture’s Chief AI Officer on Why This Is a Defining Moment
- Inside COP28's Big 'Experiment'
- U.S. Doctors Can't Be Silent About Gaza: Column
- The Movie Wives Would Like a Word
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2023
- The Top 100 Photos of 2023
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
