An intimate story by an expert on Asian cultures that subtly blends the literary with a portrait of society.

Daily life, family and professional relationships, hobbies, history, language and writing: 17 themes to understand the culture of South Korea, with references to specific terms of the Korean language.

Through the dramatic, picturesque, or frankly comic episodes, that punctuate the harsh life of the islanders and that Lim Chul-woo renders here with immense tenderness, it is the authenticity of human relations in these village communities isolated from the modern world that becomes evident and that touches us immeasurably.

After a childhood both rough and happy with his grandparents on the island of Wando, in the south of Korea, the writer tells about his adolescence and his difficult move to a poor suburb of Kwanju, on the mainland. His mother struggles to support him and his two sisters, one of whom is mentally disabled.

A collection of six short stories in which the characters witness their lives turned upside down by unforeseen situations or changes of habit.

In order to marry her Korean fiancé, a young French woman meets his family and must obtain the consent of his grandfather, an old scholar specializing in plants.

South Korea, April 16, 2014, the  Sewol sinks off the southwest coast. 304 people died in this shipwreck, most of them teenagers on a school trip.

The author, advisor at the Korean Cultural Center in Paris, offers a guide to discover and understand Korean customs. He underlines the subtleties of their personality and the risks of misunderstanding during meetings with French people. Many examples and anecdotes illustrate his words.

At the request of the Russian Turkish consul, a Kurdish Sunni mullah describes the main aspects of social organization and Kurdish traditions: the structure of the family and villages, the place of women, the rules of conduct, the celebrations and ceremonies, religion and beliefs.