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Greek Lessons
Greek Lessons
Dec 8, 2025 5:17 PM

Author:Han Kang,Deborah Smith,e. yaewon

Greek Lessons

Book of the Year 2023 according to New Yorker, TIME magazine, Kirkus

A powerful novel of the saving grace of language and human connection, from the celebrated author of The Vegetarian.

'Breathtaking . . . She is simply my favourite living writer to read, and think with, and see the world with' Max Porter

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it's the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages.

Greek Lessons is a tender love letter to human connection, a novel to awaken the senses, vividly conjuring the essence of what it means to be alive.

Translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won.

'Another stunning gem: quiet, sharply faceted, and devastating' Kirkus

'Han Kang is a writer like no other. In a few lines, she seems to traverse the entirety of human experience' Katie Kitamura

Reviews

By turns love letter to and critique of language itself, Greek Lessons is a brief yet, in its concision and finesse, lapidary work . . . one of Han's most intimate works

—— Financial Times

In Greek Lessons Kang reaches beyond the usual senses to translate the unspeakable . . . Han Kang turns the well-worn idea of the mind-body disconnect into something fresh and substantial

—— Los Angeles Times

This novel is a celebration of the ineffable trust to be found in sharing language . . . [Han] is an astute chronicler of unusual, insubordinate women

—— The New York Times

Han Kang is a writer like no other. In a few lines, she seems to traverse the entirety of human experience

—— Katie Kitamura

Han Kang's vivid and at times violent storytelling will wake up even the most jaded of literary palates

—— Independent

An elliptical, enigmatic book . . . Han's style creates mystery

—— The Economist

Han Kang's hypnotic Greek Lessons probes the limits of language

—— The Straits Times

Han Kang is what most writers spend their lives trying to be: a fearless, unsentimental teller of human truths . . . Han Kang is a genius

—— Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious Heresies

Another stunning gem: quiet, sharply faceted, and devastating

—— Kirkus

A swift-paced telling of the story of Clytemnestra, the fierce but loving princess of often-brutal Sparta . . . The easy-to-follow storytelling and well-rounded characters in the novel really draw in the reader

—— i

Ablaze with moments of deep tenderness and visceral ferocity, Casati's Clytemnestra gives the phrase 'fight like a girl' its rightfully heroic and empowering meaning! Beautifully told in a style that pays nimble homage to classic Greek mythology, Clytemnestra is a rich and compelling read, and even more so for every woman who has ever had to fight to reclaim her power. A must-read!

—— Buki Papillon, author of AN ORDINARY WONDER

Bold and elegant, this novel deconstructs Clytemnestra's infamy and then, with tremendous empathy and wisdom, reconstructs her into an enthrallingly complex figure filled with passion and spirit. This fiery tale of revenge and desire really is the stuff of legend

—— Sarah Priscus, author of the critically-acclaimed GROUPIES

Powerful and sympathetic, Clytemnestra shines a light on Helen of Troy's overshadowed sister. Crafted with page-turning suspense, Casati spins a mesmerizing story of an ambitious warrior queen who must use all her skill to protect herself and those she loves from men who view women not as equals, but as pawns to be sacrificed upon the altars of lust, greed, and fame. An ancient and intriguing tale made fresh for today's 21st century battles

—— Liz Michalski, author of DARLING GIRL: A NOVEL OF PETER PAN

A thrilling reimagining of an infamous Greek figure

—— RED

A thrilling tale of power and prophecies, and the fierce Queen who fought back at those who wronged her

—— COSMOPOLITAN, 'The best books to look forward to in 2023'

If magical mythological books call your name, Clytemnestra is the one for you

—— Glamour UK

Swift-paced, straightforward storytelling, richly imagined characters. Timeless

—— Scotsman

Wonderful characters

—— Candis

This slender book is a powerful tribute to its author's 'hero': her clever, undaunted mother.

—— Harper's Bazaar

I absolutely loved it. A moving portrayal of daughterhood, achingly precise on memory and grief, and suffused with warmth and love.

—— Megan Hunter, author of The Harpy

Wonderful... Through The Hero of This Book, McCracken extends her mother's heaven to our memories. I'll be thinking about her with great affection for a very long time.

—— Washington Post

Gorgeous... Not a word is wasted.

—— Jack Edwards on YouTube

There is a welcome levity to his prose here as he riffs on myth-making, culture clashes or the nature of storytelling itself.

—— Daily Mail

Victory City has the tone of mischief Rushdie is always able to channel into his bright, fluid storytelling. Amid all the courtly intrigue and fantastic realism woven through the extensive cast of characters, fleeting dashes of wicked humour sit up and pierce the tale delectably. Rushdie's sharp, camouflaged satire speaks to everything, from religious extremism to greed to patriarchal misogyny. It all just seems to unspool from him without effort.

—— Irish Independent

The best thing Salman Rushdie has written in years... One of the richest and most exuberant books he has given us.

—— Scotsman

Rushdie's creation is vivid, compelling, and entirely his own.

—— Daily Mirror

Salman Rushdie is a genius and I wish he could read me a story - or a chapter of his book - every night before bed. The scale and scope of his intellect and his imagination is googolplex.

—— A.M. Homes, author of THE UNFOLDING

It does not resemble any other novel I could name. A major accomplishment by one of our greatest living writers.

—— Michael Cunningham, author of THE HOURS

No one, and I mean no one, can bring an entire world to life... like Salman Rushdie.

—— Gary Shteyngart, author of OUR COUNTRY FRIENDS

Mesmerising and soul-stirring. Victory City is an epic tribute to the power of words as well as the resilience of women. Rushdie is without a peer in proving that literature soars above tyranny and bigotry, and imagination roars louder than censorship

—— Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees

This is Salman Rushdie at his most virtuosic.

—— Hari Kunzru, author of THE IMPRESSIONIST

It will show you the adult world in a whole new light. Only a master storyteller can do that.

—— Jarvis Cocker, author of GOOD POP, BAD POP

A storyteller who reminds that death may take away a lot of things, but never the power of our words.

—— Colum McCann, author of LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN

A capacious and sweeping telling in which writing about the past is a way of also staring dead on at the present.

—— Natasha Trethewey, author of NATIVE GUARD

Victory City stands out as one of the year's literary highlights... that feels like an instant classic.

—— Bea Carvalho, Head of Fiction at Waterstones

Rushdie is an assured storyteller at the height of his powers, revealing once again how important India is as a fount of his imagination.

—— Conversation

Victory City is one of Rushdie's very best novels. It is also a luminous, italicised, vibrant reminder of the possibilities of free expression and of the untrammelled imagination. In this instance, the medium is indeed the message.

—— Tortoise Media

Victory City can, in many ways, be read as an entertaining jaunt through Indian history, though it is history through the kaleidoscopic and sweeping lens of a fairy tale... this brilliantly magical tale.

—— Irish Independent

This sweeping, intricately crafted fairy tale is underscored by very human characters and Rushdie's signature wit.

—— Culture Whisper, *Books to Look Out For 2023*

A grand entertainment, in a tale with many strands, by an ascended master of modern legends.

—— Kirkus Review

Rushdie's magical style unfurls wonders.

—— Washington Post

Rushdie's Victory City is another fabulous novel set in his native India... He's a master who never forgets that the main goal of a storyteller is to entertain rather than educate or pontificate.

—— New York Journal of Books

Rushdie is, above all else...one of the most powerful defenders of story we have... Victory City is a victory for Rushdie - and for every reader who enters its gates.

—— Harper's Bazaar

Rushdie succeeds in creating a kind of incantatory prose that befits the fabulist nature of the story... he can enchant readers like few other writers.

—— Literary Review

This is a man at his full-strength, high-tar best - with his deeply humane worldview, his brilliance at set-pieces and, above all, the thrilling wildness of his imagination on irresistible display.

—— Reader's Digest

With its carousel of shifting politics and history, Victory City is Rushdie's most textured and triumphant wonder tale yet.

—— Hindu

Utterly enchanting.

—— Eastern Eye

Rushdie's return to magic, myth, and India's ancient stories is dazzling. With mercurial prose and vivid renderings, Rushdie never loses us in Victory City's convolutions, but instead builds our trust to travail the many grand events of Pampa's imagined empire.

—— Esquire

A rich, dramatic saga... The many moments of comedy...show Salman Rushdie's storytelling skills and his endearing sense of playfulness... the main feeling the reader gets is of a storyteller enjoying himself.

—— Tablet, *Novel of the Week*

Rushdie is an expert at mixology; he's the DJ Shadow of text with references and allusions to high and low culture from Finnegans Wake to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... a well-told tale that gets bums on seats.

—— National

There's a magical thread of storytelling running through the veins of each character we meet in this book... a joy to read.

—— UK Press Syndication

A work of great imagination... In Victory City the power of the written word and of the storyteller remain triumphant.

—— NB

Rushdie’s sheer love of fiction is irrepressible.

—— Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*

A wonderfully entertaining literary hybrid

—— The Times, *Books of the Year*

Victory City is Salman Rushdie at his imaginative best… sweeping the reader on a journey that feels epic in a mere 320 pages

—— i, *Books of the Year*
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