'City of Night Birds' on ballerina’s rise, fall and potential return
Kim Ju-hea, acclaimed author of the international bestseller, "Beasts of a Little Land," returns with her bold and luminous second novel, "City of Night Birds."
The novel, which hit US bookshelves in November 2024, became available in the UK on Thursday.
The incandescent tale of redemption and love centers on Natalia Leonova, a once-celebrated prima ballerina whose life is at a crossroads.
She returns to St. Petersburg two years after a devastating accident that broke her career. Now struggling with addiction to pain medication and alcohol, she faces a final decision: to re-enter the world of Russian ballet or to leave it behind forever.
"City of Night Birds" offers a dazzling exploration of art, ambition and love. Through its richly layered narrative, Kim unveils the fiercely competitive world of contemporary Russian ballet, where sublime artistry clashes with relentless ambition and political intrigue.
Kim’s debut novel "Beasts of a Little Land" (2021) captivated readers worldwide with its sweeping tale of love, war and redemption set during the Korean independence movement under Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945).
The novel won the 2024 Yasnaya Polyana Award, Russia's largest annual literary prize presented by the Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate.
“Beasts of a Little Land” is also set to be adapted for the screen.
