Korean War Fiction

On 25 June, 1950, the invasion of South Korea by the Communist North launched one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last century. The seemingly limitless power of the Chinese-backed North was thrown against the ferocious firepower of the UN-backed South in a war that can be seen today as the stark prelude to Vietnam.

It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Max Hastings, preeminent military historian, takes us back to the bloody, bitter struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950.

In sobering detail, The Korean War chronicles a US home front agitated by Joseph McCarthy, where absolutist conformity discouraged open inquiry and citizen dissent. Cumings incisively ties our current foreign policy back to Korea: an America with hundreds of permanent military bases abroad, a large standing army, and a permanent national security state at home, the ultimate result of a judicious and limited policy of containment evolving into an ongoing and seemingly endless global crusade.  

The Korean Peninsula today is divided into two, but there was a time when this peninsula was divided into many states. Over the course of time, and besieged by expansive transient dynasties outside of this modest piece of land, many clans and tribes overran their lands. Of all those malicious and greedy potential overlords, none managed to prevail.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A mesmerizing new historical novel” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from Lisa See, the bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and devastating family secrets on a small Korean island. Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the...

Based on a true story. As the Korean War threatens to ignite a global nuclear inferno, the fate of the free world rests on a razor's edge, while on the home front, two towering American titans – the resolute President Truman and the legendary General MacArthur – engage in a perilous battle of wills that could either avert Armageddon or tear the nation apart.

Longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize: a powerful, engrossing new novel—the life and times of a remarkable family over three transformative decades in America. On their farm in Denby, Iowa, Rosanna and Walter Langdon abide by time-honored values that...

Twenty-year-old Joe Sanderson doesn't like to fight so he ends up enlisting in the Korean War in 1950 as a conscientious objector and becomes a medic. Things change for Joe that don't sit well with him. This is a story of family and friendship against the backdrop of the Korean War.

Brought to you by Penguin. Two outsiders are drawn together in a powerful, emotionally gripping story of love and war – the debut novel from the author of Flashlight In 1955, a new student arrives at a small college in the Tennessee mountains. Chuck is shy, speaks English haltingly, and on the...

The beautiful novel of female friendship and family secrets on a small Korean island, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds...

One of the least understood countries in the world, North Korea has long been known for its repressive regime. Yet it is far from being an impenetrable black box. Media flows covertly into the country, and fault lines are appearing in the government's sealed informational borders. Drawing on deeply personal interviews with North Korean defectors from all walks of life, ranging from propaganda artists to diplomats, Jieun Baek tells the story of North Korea's information underground.

The bestselling debut novel for fans of PACHINKO and HOMEGOING 'A rich, sweeping novel' EMMA NANAMI STRENNER 'Spellbinding' KARISSA CHEN 'A fierce and mythic family saga' SILVIA PARK Honey in the Wound follows a mysteriously gifted lineage of Korean women as they are displaced across Asia by...

Deep in the Korean mountains, US sniper Caje Cole and his squad are on patrol when they witness a dogfight that ends with an American pilot being shot down over enemy territory. Cole leads the rescue effort that puts him in conflict with a deadly Chinese sniper, but that turns out to be the least of his worries. Enemy forces are on the move, starting with the capture of an outpost just beyond the American line.

Manila, Philippines, 2003. Dane Chandler is visiting Manila on a writing assignment. Jack Pierce is a tough-talking Korean War veteran. When Jack asks Dane to join him for cards at the pension's cafe, Dane instinctively agrees, sensing the man's "command" presence. What unfolds will change their lives forever. Tokyo, Japan, 1949. Jack Pierce joined the army for honor and adventure, finding himself garrisoned at Camp Drake, Tokyo. On a raucous night at Ginza's glitzy Club Florida, the young corporal meets the love of his life, Michiko Okura.

In the war-torn streets of 1950s Seoul, Min-ji, a young seamstress, stitches together a life for her mother and ailing sister amidst the chaos of the Korean War. When she meets James, an American soldier with plains-wide eyes and a gentle heart, a fragile love blooms, promising a visa and a new life in America. But when tragedy strikes and James is lost to the front lines, Min-ji’s dreams unravel, leaving her a widow with an expiring visa and a desperate fight to remain in her homeland.

Ice, Fire, and Blood, the first novel of veteran journalist Norman Black, brings to vivid life U.S. combat infantrymen's experience in Korea, from late 1950 to spring 1951. The story focuses on one company of an infantry battalion and begins in northwestern Korea. It covers those periods when Chinese armies entered the war and inflicted devastating loses on U.S.-U.N. forces and the subsequent turn-around, early in 1951, after Gen. Matthew Ridgway took command. In the following months, new equipment was received, serious loses were inflicted on the Chinese, and it became clear South Korea would not be overrun by Communism.

Spring of 1592. Near the small town of Hamhae, Soodol knows that his life will end as a lowly baekjong, the untouchable caste of Joseon Korea. As he feels sorry for himself with a bottle of cheap alcohol, Japanese horsemen sweep through Hamhae, his birthplace and where his noble father still...

Born in a drought-ravaged village in the Riverlands, Shin-young survives through endurance and silence. When sudden violence drives her from home, she discards her name and finds herself in the imperial palace, where beauty masks cruelty and the powerless are quietly erased. Assigned to the...

North Korea has achieved a breakthrough with nuclear warheads and is about to arm their strategic missiles - weapons that could set the world ablaze. The Echo Six unit commander, Abe Talley, is ordered to take his men across the 38th Parallel. Their mission is to locate and destroy the nukes, as well as their creators. They must enter the heart of the most secretive, repressive, and brutal nation on Earth - and somehow find a way back.