Jin feels stuck. She’s at a crossroads in her career as a photographer, and lately she’s been unsatisfied with her marriage to her college sweetheart, Phillip. Phillip has begun expressing his desire for children, which Jin has never felt any urge to have, while she would prefer to explore newer things in the bedroom to spice up their dwindling sex life. But when Jin meets Lidija Jung, a beautiful world-famous ballerina recently retired due to her injuries, a spark is lit up inside Jin that she thought had long ago been put out. With Lidija, Jin falls in love again with art, with her body, and with love itself.

Throughout the novel, Jin is haunted by the story of the kisaeng – enslaved women who were trained to be courtesans, entertaining the men of the upper class with their beauty and artistic talents. Looming over her like a spectre, Jin is both frightened and intrigued by what Lidija offers; the desires kept repressed, her ambition in her art, and a life outside what social and cultural norms tell her to follow. This is a story of passion, but not where the fire burns quick and bright; rather, a slower, more intense burn that reflects the ardent yearning Jin and Lidija have for each other and for something bigger than themselves.

R.O. Kwon’s beautiful prose and dreamlike story deftly comments on women’s rights (and decisions regarding their bodies in such matters as pregnancy, abortion, and sex), but also on racism, and the objectification and fetishisation of Asian women. Kwon achieves so much in just above 200 pages, weaving together a call for social change and a love story.