Heo Jin-hee (Author):
“Here is a boy who feels deep shame about his own upbringing. Young-jae’s life is filled with lies and paradoxes. One after another, events crash into him, and tangled relationships stir up his already troubled mind. Even by adult standards, his adolescence is fraught with nearly unsolvable dilemmas. Yet in the end, Young-jae manages to grow. Even though it would have been easier to stay still, he willingly endures regret and self-reproach, and takes a step forward through his own choice. It is impossible not to be moved by his story. This tale of a boy enduring the contradictions of a cruel life and surviving those agonizing years has a way of striking straight at the heart. The vibrant pulse on the final page is Young-jae’s gentle greeting to readers—a greeting from a boy who made it safely to twenty. Hidden within this greeting is a precious and intricate life lesson, one worth revisiting again and again.”

Kang Dong-hee (Children’s and Young Adult Literature Critic):
“Only by confronting death can we truly feel every moment of being alive. In that sense, nothing teaches us the value of the time we spend with those around us more than death. This book captures the staggering moment where life and death inevitably intersect with astonishing tenderness and delicacy. I want to quietly recommend this story to anyone who often feels lost and unsure of how to face themselves.”

★ A New Work by Lee Ro-ah, Winner of the Literary Village Youth Literature Grand Prize ★

That summer at nineteen, the only way I could cover up my guilt was with hatred. Can we make it safely to twenty?

“Young-jae had been waiting inside my cowardly self for this very moment. Only when this book is published will I truly believe that your time has finally come.” — From the author’s preface

Author Lee Ro-ah, who won the 15th Literary Village Youth Literature Grand Prize with Woof-Woof Is Right There, earning widespread critical attention, has now officially published her new work, The Summer I Hated You. In her previous work, the author deeply portrayed the grief caused by social disasters and the meaning of mourning. In this new novel, she employs a core premise rarely seen in young adult fiction—the “fake shaman”—to firmly grip the reader’s attention.

The protagonist Young-jae’s mother has long posed as a shaman. One day, she falls into a coma and does not wake up. Young-jae borrows his mother’s “skills” and begins pretending to be a shaman himself. He reads palms for his friends, telling them only what they want to hear. Then one day, he suddenly sees a vision of his friend Han-gyeom’s impending death. As he gradually approaches the truth behind the death, he discovers that his friend’s fate has long been intertwined with his own and his mother’s.

The Summer I Hated You delicately and richly portrays the wavering inner world of a nineteen-year-old boy confronting death and destiny. The story unfolds slowly across the entangled summer of four people—Young-jae, Han-gyeom, his mother, and Won-jeong—gradually revealing their interwoven feelings of resentment and guilt, love and regret. After all the time spent hating because they could not bring themselves to say sorry, after all the years spent pushing each other away to hide their wounds, the four finally learn to look at one another anew. This novel will offer a tender and profound comfort to young readers who are carrying their loneliness alone.

“Even though it would have been easier to stay still, he willingly endures regret and self-reproach, and takes a step forward through his own choice. It is impossible not to be moved.” — Heo Jin-hee (author of Falling for Dokgo Song)

“I want to quietly recommend this story to anyone who often feels lost and unsure of how to face themselves.” — Kang Dong-hee (children’s and young adult literature critic)

“I still can’t control anything, but in the end, we will each walk our own path.”

The most passionate and bittersweet summer of our nineteen-year-old selves.

Author Lee Ro-ah, who excels at portraying the complex emotions of characters with plain yet delicate language, brings us her new work, The Summer I Hated You. Once again, she layers the intricate inner worlds of Young-jae and Han-gyeom, keeping readers riveted to the very last page.

Everyone calls Young-jae’s mother a “shaman,” but Young-jae has never believed she possesses any real power. His mother merely earns a living by soothing people’s anxieties with keen observation, plausible-sounding words, and a worldview of her own making. After his mother falls into a coma, an angel appears before Young-jae and offers to lend him his mother’s “skills.” From then on, Young-jae keeps seeing visions of the deaths destined to befall his friend Han-gyeom—both in the past and in the future. Han-gyeom has brushed death several times since childhood and has always believed that if he can just make it to twenty, he will escape its shadow. Han-gyeom’s mother is convinced that her son’s survival is all thanks to a talisman. Young-jae cannot ignore her desperate hope, so he hands her a counterfeit talisman, mimicking the pattern of the real one.

But the visions of Han-gyeom’s death grow ever clearer, and the world Young-jae has long believed in begins to crumble. He cannot help but wonder if his mother’s “skills” might be real after all. He is terrified that the fake talisman will not be enough to keep Han-gyeom alive until twenty. His desire to save Han-gyeom pulls against the secrets of his mother’s past. Young-jae cannot find an answer, and the guilt inside him slowly turns to resentment.

The premise of “foreseeing another’s death” gives rise to a contradictory state of mind: wanting to save someone while harboring grudges; wanting to look away yet being unable to stop staring. Young-jae’s entire summer is filled with countless unsolvable questions, as he lingers before the choice he most dreads to make.

The Summer I Hated You is unique in subject matter, told in a quiet yet powerfully impactful narrative. The novel revolves around Young-jae’s inner struggle—he hopes for a better future, yet tries to ignore the pain and anxiety of both his loved ones and himself. The writing captures this inner conflict with exquisite nuance. Through the story, the author tells young readers that they do not have to force themselves to make an immediate decision; sometimes it takes great courage to accept things as they are and simply endure the present.

“Pretending never requires everyone to understand.”

The past that was once ignored and deliberately avoided—a long-overdue reconciliation.

Da Vinci’s painting The Virgin and Child appears multiple times throughout the novel. In the painting, the Virgin’s right arm appears disproportionately long from the front. The world says this was a deliberate expression by the artist to account for the viewer’s perspective. But Young-jae has never been able to easily accept this explanation. Why can’t people just admit that the Virgin’s arm was painted too long? Why is it that whenever we see something dissonant or strange, we must force a reasonable explanation upon it?

This question ultimately becomes Young-jae’s complicated feelings toward his mother. Young-jae, being closest to his mother, thinks he has seen her true self: she does not believe in spirits, yet she pretends to be a shaman, making money by comforting the anxious. For the longest time, this livelihood has filled Young-jae with shame and embarrassment. But when he borrows his mother’s skills and pretends to be a shaman himself, he suddenly realizes that he has never truly understood her. His mother’s hidden fragility, her past—a past she chose to bear alone—and the tender feelings behind every choice she made, slowly surface.

The Summer I Hated You tells readers that understanding a person is never about defining them in a single sentence. Having walked through the years of hatred and shame toward his mother, Young-jae finally confronts the mother’s heart he had deliberately avoided. Through this long-overdue reconciliation, the novel traces a boy’s journey of letting go of rigid prejudices, re-reading others, and completing his own growth.

“I want to see Han-gyeom turn twenty with my own eyes.”

Can we really make it safely to twenty?

For Young-jae and Han-gyeom, twenty is more than just a number. For Han-gyeom, twenty is the starting point where he can finally escape his mother’s anxiety and the shackles of the talisman, and live life on his own terms. Watching Han-gyeom, Young-jae wishes for the first time, from the bottom of his heart, for him to have a safe and peaceful tomorrow. Especially in the scene near the end of summer, when the two walk toward the sea together—it is the moment when Han-gyeom, who does not fear death, and Young-jae, who desperately wants to protect his friend’s future, finally meet in understanding.

Having passed through hatred, regret, and deliberate avoidance, Young-jae and Han-gyeom each stride forward into their own lives.

The Summer I Hated You is filled with twists and turns from beginning to end, maintaining a taut narrative tension throughout. It tells the story of two boys, trapped in fear and guilt, wavering incessantly, who ultimately take a step forward through their own choices. Will the two of them be able to safely welcome their twentieth year?

Lee Ro-ah (Author)

She has lived a wandering life and was born in North Chungcheong Province. She won the 15th Literary Village Youth Literature Grand Prize for Woof-Woof Is Right There. Her short story “Kim Min-soo (Current Student)” was included in the collection Horror. She has published the full-length novel Please Possess Me. She writes exclusively for young adult readers and will continue to do so. Recently, she has taken up snowboarding, and her wish is to write for a long time and ride the slopes for a long time.

Awards: 2024 Literary Village Youth Literature Grand Prize
Recent works: Middle School Reading Debate Argumentative Essay Required Reading Second Season Set (5 Volumes), The Summer I Hated You, Please Possess Me … 7 titles in total