The Limits of the World

In Pyongyang, North Korea, a lonely government official’s passion for banned foreign books drives him to acts of startling heroism and rebellion.

Mr Han is a guide to foreign tourists visiting the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. On the surface, he appears to be a model citizen, repeating the official version of history as written by the all-powerful, totalitarian government.

But unknown to anyone, Han has been living a dangerous, double-life as a passionate reader of banned foreign books, and dreams of a life outside the brutal regime.

Now a passionate affair with enigmatic cellist Mae will drive Han to do the risk his life by telling the truth about the regime to two undercover Western journalists, laying bare the wounds of his – and his country’s – deeply tragic past.

But Han’s secret life is about to unravel in ways he never anticipated. In his longing to find the freedom and love he has only ever read about, Han will discover the true price of freedom, and the human spirit’s power to conjure hope in the most hopeless of places.

It is a novel for our times, and a reminder of the universal power of storytelling.