FOUR TRUTHS AND A LIE

FOUR TRUTHS AND A LIE, award-winning Korean writer Ae-ran Kim's first novel in 13 years, follows three classmates on the cusp of adulthood grappling with grief and loss. Told in Kim's trademark compassionate, incisive voice, Jiwoo, Chaewoon, and Sori's multilayered stories unfold in alternating chapters as they work through guilt, resentment, and the burden of keeping secrets. Taking its title from the game Four Truths and A Lie, which figures prominently in the story, this moving novel is a thoughtful look into what constitutes family, the power of art, and how truths and lies can equally be protective, burdensome, and necessary.

The novel opens with Jiwoo, a quiet boy who expresses himself through comics he posts online, waiting to be picked up at the police station after causing an accident. His mother has died recently, and Jiwoo suspects that she killed herself. Depressed and angry, he decides to leave home, where he lives with his late mother's partner, Seonho, to work in construction; once he makes enough money he plans to move out with his beloved pet lizard, Yongsik. About a year ago, former soccer player Chaewoon stabbed his abusive father to protect his mother, who took the blame and is in prison. His father is in a coma, and Chaewoon wishes his father wouldn't wake up, terrified that the truth will come out. He and his golden retriever, Mr. Fluff, move in with his aunt, and, at his new school, he recognizes Jiwoo, who used to be a neighbor. He learns about an online comic series that seems to portray the night of the incident, and begins to suspect that Jiwoo is behind it. He worries that his classmate knows what really happened. Sori, an artist, is also grieving the death of her mom, who died of cancer two years earlier. Sori has a big secret. She can tell who will die soon; when she holds someone's hand and they turn hazy, they end up dying in a few months. However, she wasn't able to predict that her mom was going to die, about which she feels both confused and guilty. One day, Sori finds Chaewoon's lost dog and helps reunite them. Realizing Mr. Fluff doesn't have long to live, she tells Chaewoon to spend more time with the dog. Chaewoon learns Sori's secret and asks her to visit his father and hold his hand. Meanwhile, Yongsik dies in Sori's care. Jiwoo hurries back home, but causes the accident that opened the novel. Seonho picks him up and Jiwoo learns that Seonho considers him family, and that his mother did not kill herself. The novel concludes with Jiwoo, Chaewoon, and Sori learning important truths that help assuage their guilt and hurt, and they each begin opening up to new possibilities. Much like Kim's critically acclaimed MY BRILLIANT LIFE, this novel expertly captures teenage confusion, worries, and hopes, while poignantly revealing that beauty and light exist even in the depths of sorrow.