- Arts Council Korea 2005 Outstanding Book Award
- Korea Publication Ethics Commission Book of the Month
- Korea Publishers´ Association Book of the Month
 

Secrets and Lies is a deep and thought provoking ´self-realization´ novel. Looking back at the family history from an adult viewpoint, it reflects on the process of growing up and identity. Set against the backdrop of the history of a provincial family over three generations, it is the story of the relationship between two brothers who have differing approaches to life (the elder brother is a pragmatic realist and the younger brother a vague idealist), their conflict and their reconciliation. At the same time, it is also the story of the family´s relationship with the neighboring household with whom they are at loggerheads.
Three different overlapping plots are tightly interwoven. The family secret in which the grandfather and father are implicated is the pivotal theme, while the dispute of the two brothers, whose relationship is problematic at every turn, and their eventual reconciliation is a second plot. A third storyline is the development of the elder brother´s city life as a film director.
The story opens with the death of the father, Jeong Jeong-wuk, and the shocking legacy he leaves. This legacy - the bequest of his house to an unknown woman - becomes the hidden ´protagonist´ behind the story. The characters follow where the legacy leads and one by one various events unfold. 
The first two people to be drawn together by the father´s death and legacy are his two sons, Yeong-jun and Yeong-wu. The moment the house deeds come into their possession, both Yeong-jun and Yeong-wu become immersed in memories of their painful childhood. As the sons focus on their father, the story of their childhood emerges, and at the same time the course of their conflict and reconciliation evolves. 
The story unfolds as various characters are brought together by the father´s death and legacy and then separate again. The house deeds reveal another history that underlies the whole family. Hidden beneath the surface of this family, apparently a model of morality and highly respected in the neighborhood, lies a hushed and buried history of raw human desire and depravity - of immorality, ill-fated lust and incest.
A daughter born to the daughter of their longstanding mutual enemy, the neighboring Choi family, appears on the scene and the plot takes a dramatic turn. The father´s dying wish is that the family house should pass to this woman, thus providing his sons with fatal proof of his immoral conduct. The moment the secret of their father´s deceit comes to light, a totally different side to their father is revealed...

About the Author
Eun Hee-kyung made her literary debut when her novella “Duet” won the Dong-A Ilbo spring literary contest in 1995. That same year, she received the 1st Munhakdongne Novel Award with Gift from a Bird, a full-length novel. Her works include the short story collections, Talking to Strangers, Happy People Don’t Check the Time, Inheritance, Beauty Despises Me, and the full-length novels, Gift from a Bird, Save the Last Dance for Me, Was It a Dream?, Minor League, and Secrets and Lies. She has received the Munhakdongne Novel Award, the Dongseo Literature Award, the Isang Literature Award, the Korean Novel Literature Award, the Hankook Ilbo Literature Award, the Isan Literature Award, and the Dongin Literture Award
 

Story of ‘Me’ - - sad but beautiful, aggressive and mesmerizing.

The book contains eight stories, all of which are about people who feel that their lives are “empty.” They think as if they were bearing all the sorrow and hardship in the world on themselves. They strive to get rid of the world of “fake stuff” and draw themselves closer to the “real things.”

“Cremation,” the winner of the Isang Literature Prize, is about an executive of a cosmetics company. His wife is dying from brain cancer, but he is in love with a young employee at his company. He is too shy to even talk to her, all he can manage to do is to watch her from a distance. While taking care of his wife, he thinks of the young lady’s collarbones and the blue vein that was pronounced on the bones. His wife eventually dies, and the young lady attends her funeral. Again, he cannot take his eyes off her body. This story is filled with very candid, graphic and realistic description of human body, especially that of a woman who suffers from illness and a man who is withering inside.

“My Sister’s Menopause” tells the story of two sisters in their 50s in a sensitive and sophisticated way. The older sister’s husband died two years ago in a plane crash. The younger sister deals with her mother-in-law’s death and leads a busy life supporting her daughter until she goes overseas to study. One day, she finds hair on her husband’s clothes and suspects that he is having an affair. Her husband suddenly asks for a divorce. This is a serenely beautiful story with the detailed description of the inner thoughts of the two sisters.

The flagship story in this book, “Kangsan Mujin” is about a manager of a clothing company who has been diagnosed with a terminal cancer. With a few months to live, he starts to work on the things that he feels the need to finalize before he goes. Rather than focusing on his imminent death and the resulting sorrow, he hurriedly collects his retirement pay and excavates his mother’s grave out of the realization that he won’t be able to take care of it any more. This story shows how material we are and how an ordinary person responds to the call of destiny.

About the Author
Kim Hoon, a premier essayist, won the 2004 Isang Literature Prize with “Cremation.” He won the Dong-in Literature Prize in 2001 for Song of Sword, which will be published as one of ‘Du Monde Entier’ series by the Editions Gallimard, France. Rights are also sold to Japan and Germany.
Born in 1948 in Seoul, He attended Korea University to study English Literature but dropped out and became a reporter. His first novel Memories of Earthenware with Comb Teeth Pattern was published in 1995. Since then he has published a number of novels including Song of Sword and Song of Strings. He is also known for his numerous essays such as Scenery and Scars, A Bicycle Trip and How Boring It Is to Make a Living.

A young Korean college student, staying in Berlin, comes across the stories of the laymen who did not care for the politics at all, yet whose individual lives were swayed and turned upside down by history.

Jeongmin, a proactive student activist, is my girlfriend. When it is only two of us, we talk about none of the activism issues, but about many other things like family, books, music, dreams, odd experiences, etc. Once we talked about a woman’s nude picture, my grandfather used to claim that it was taken from the World War II. On that very night, Jeongmin and I traveled on a whim to my parents’ old house in the countryside to look for the photo.

Although I am not really into the activism organized around the college campus, in 1991, everyone is somehow involved, and that summer, I am sent to Berlin to assist the student activists who are to visit North Korea. While home-staying in Berlin, I listen to a guy’s story of Nazi’s Jewish camps, run into a videotape of a Korean construction worker becoming a radical activist, think of my grandfather’s story of World War II, and recall my uncle who was beaten in high school and later killed himself from the trauma - - everyone who did not care for the politics at the time, yet whose very individual lives were swayed and turned upside down by the historical events.

About the Author
Kim Yeon-su debuted as a junior in college when his first poem was published in the summer issue of Writers World.  His novels include Walking While Pointing at the Mask(1994 Writers World Literature Prize), Good-bye, Isang(2001Dongseo Literary Award), and Route 7(1997). Also published are short story collections, entitled I Am a Ghostwriter(2005 Daesan Literature Award), When I Was Still a Child(2003 Dong-in Literature Prize), Twenty Year old(2000), and The End of the World, Girlfriend(2009).