The Forest of Stolen Girls
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Suspenseful and richly atmospheric, June Hur's The Forest of Stolen Girls is a haunting historical mystery sure to keep readers guessing until the last page.
1426, Joseon (Korea). Hwani's family has never been the same since she and her younger sister went missing and were later found unconscious in the forest near a gruesome crime scene.
Years later, Detective Min—Hwani's father—learns that thirteen girls have recently disappeared from the same forest that nearly stole his daughters. He travels to their hometown on the island of Jeju to investigate… only to vanish as well.
Determined to find her father and solve the case that tore their family apart, Hwani returns home to pick up the trail. As she digs into the secrets of the small village—and collides with her now estranged sister, Maewol—Hwani comes to realize that the answer could lie within her own buried memories of what happened in the forest all those years ago.
Praise for The Forest of Stolen Girls:
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection
A 2022 White Pine Award Nominee
A 2022 ALA Rise Selection
A 2022 CCBC Choices Selection
"The Forest of Stolen Girls is a haunting, breathtaking tale that will have readers on the edge of their seats. ... Hur is an absolute master of mystery, and I will be reading her gorgeous books for years to come." —Adalyn Grace, New York Times-bestselling author of All the Stars and Teeth
"Rich, exquisite, and deeply atmospheric, The Forest of Stolen Girls draws the reader in from the very first page and doesn't let go. A dark and utterly engrossing mystery, beautifully drawn from start to finish." —Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times-bestselling author of Girl in Pieces
"Haunting and lyrical. Beware, this tale will draw you deeper into the forest than you want to go." —Stacey Lee, award-winning author of The Downstairs Girl
"A brilliant historical fiction mystery that is suspenseful, gorgeous and absolutely riveting! Hur brings Jeju Island during the early Joseon period completely to life in a rich, evocative manner that reminds me of watching my favorite historical Kdrama.” —Ellen Oh, author of the Prophecy series
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1462 Joseon Korea, Min Hwani, 18, returns to her hometown on Jeju Island to find the renowned detective Min Jewoo—her missing father, who disappeared a year ago after going to investigate the case of "13 girls missing in the past four years." Five years prior to the start of the novel, Hwani and her sister Maewol, three years younger, were tangentially involved in the Forest Incident, located unconscious "near the scene of the crime," a forest where a young woman's body was also found. Left behind on Jeju to be raised by Shaman Nokyung after experiencing the shamanic calling, Maewol is now estranged from Hwani, who moved to the mainland with their father. But when the sisters realize that a man in a white mask is the common factor between past and present crimes, they join forces to solve the case. Crafting a suspenseful, atmospheric historical mystery, Hur (The Silence of Bones) explores women's lack of bodily agency during this time and the dangers of obsessive protection, adroitly interweaving the historical context of the real horrors that afflicted Korean women from the 13th-century Mongol rule until after 1435. Ages 14–up.
