Behind Five Willows

Gr 7 Up–An engaging dual point-of-view story with an enemies-to-lovers romance plot that younger readers can enjoy. ­Haewon, 18, lives in late 1700s Korea, where women and their reputations are fragile; women are not expected to be seen outside of their homes, nor to have any contact with men unless they are married. ­Anything as fickle as rumors can “ruin” them and their families, so stakes are extremely high. However, much to her mother’s chagrin, Haewon is a frequent patron of Five Willows, a ­local bookstore with a secret: it has a hidden room in the back where titles are copied and reproduced, as this is a time when paper and the printing press were almost unattainable to most people. Haewon, using the pen name Magpie, is a well-respected transcriber notable for her accurate work. Local golden boy Seojun is in a completely different status bracket, but he, too, frequents Five ­Willows, where he enjoys books not only as a reader but as an author named Black ­Lotus. ­Haewon’s and Seojun’s worlds ­collide when the ­government starts banning books and raiding bookstores on the belief that novels are the downfall of moral values. The well-researched story is made richer by the author’s note, which includes more historical background details. Except for a couple of plot missteps, this compelling title will have broad appeal for its social justice subplots amid a setting where women’s rights are nonexistent and literacy is frowned upon.