Publication Date: July 7, 2026
For lovers of The Midnight Library and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, discover a spellbinding novel about a mysterious bookshop that exists outside of time and space, where the past is only a page away…
If you’re lost or grieving, you’ll find The Memory Bookshop, where the shelves are endless; the books, strangely familiar; and where memories are bound in pages.
Jiwon’s life has been slowly disintegrating since her mother died. Until one day, caught by a sudden downpour, she stumbles into a mysterious bookstore. Inside, she is met by Manager K and offered no explanation, only a mysterious hourglass and a rare opportunity: to travel back to three chapters of her life.
But returning to the past isn’t without risk. In exchange, Jiwon must give up time in her future.
As she wanders between the shelves, the bookshop humming with memories and regrets, she must ask herself: can the past truly be rewritten? Or does the real magic lie in the life she’s yet to live?
It has been seven years since Jiwon’s mother died, leaving her drifting aimlessly and considering death herself.
Author Song Yu-jeong creates a mythical place in The Memory Bookshop where Jiwon receives three chances to relive her memories.
Told in first person, the story conveys an image of a main character who is struggling with writer’s block and plagued with anxiety. Discovering the bookshop—and the rules set by the manager—proves frustrating at first.
The idea of being able to go back in time and relive a moment of my choice is compelling, but the time trade-off isn’t exactly worthwhile. Because Jiwon’s story is less than 200 pages, more development would have helped fill in the gaps.
It’s interesting to see which moments Jiwon chooses to relive and why. While the bookshop is fictional, the message of using memories to alter your perspective is sound advice.
The Memory Bookshop takes a woman’s grief and turns it into something more manageable.
Song Yu-jeong has been writing webnovels for six years under the pen name “All Day.” Her novel The Memory Bookshop was initially self-published after reaching 150% of its target on the crowdfunding platform Tumblbug, before being picked up by Dasan Books in South Korea.
