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Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua DusapinRead about the other entries on the list.
Off season in a tourist town on the border of South and North Korea, everything falls eerily quiet. Against the muted backdrop of snow-filled, bleak winter days, Dusapin's exquisite debut charts the relationship between a young French Korean woman working as a guesthouse receptionist and a random winter visitor, a French cartoonist in search of inspiration. Charged with emotional candour, Winter in Sokcho is a stunning exploration of what it means to feel alienated from oneself and of the intimacy that is sometimes possible between strangers.
--Marshal Zeringue