To the Moon
Published on 19. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-5266-8201-7 (ISBN)
Description
'A zeitgeisty rags-to-riches tale' DAILY MAIL
'An off-beat slice-of-life novel' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
The bestselling South Korean phenomenon, To the Moon is a bittersweet tale of wealth and class, female friendship, and the promise of the future when good fortune seems to be just around the corner.
In Seoul, three young women meet while working mundane desk jobs at a confectionary manufacturer. They become fast friends, taking their conversations out of the group chat as they bond over their 'average' employee report cards, the incompetence of their male team leader and a mutual longing for financial freedom amid mediocre raises.
Eun-sang, the eldest of the group, is always looking for ways to earn extra money, but faces trouble at work after she opens a mini mart at her desk.
Jisong, the youngest, dreams of a perfect romance with her Taiwanese boyfriend and spends her low salary on trips to Taipei.
Meanwhile, Dahae searches endlessly for a better apartment - albeit one she can actually afford.
One day over lunch, Eun-sang announces a plan to make enough money to quit her job, by investing her life's savings in cryptocurrency. What's more, she thinks the others should join her. All they need to do, she says, is hold on tight and wait for the price to skyrocket . . . to the moon. But as the market begins to fluctuate and spiral out of their control, the fate of their friendships - and their futures - soon hangs in the balance.
What readers are saying:
'A propulsive story that kept me on the razor wire of anxious and hopeful'
'This book was like no other'
'Bittersweet and deeply relatable ... A must-read'
'An off-beat slice-of-life novel' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
The bestselling South Korean phenomenon, To the Moon is a bittersweet tale of wealth and class, female friendship, and the promise of the future when good fortune seems to be just around the corner.
In Seoul, three young women meet while working mundane desk jobs at a confectionary manufacturer. They become fast friends, taking their conversations out of the group chat as they bond over their 'average' employee report cards, the incompetence of their male team leader and a mutual longing for financial freedom amid mediocre raises.
Eun-sang, the eldest of the group, is always looking for ways to earn extra money, but faces trouble at work after she opens a mini mart at her desk.
Jisong, the youngest, dreams of a perfect romance with her Taiwanese boyfriend and spends her low salary on trips to Taipei.
Meanwhile, Dahae searches endlessly for a better apartment - albeit one she can actually afford.
One day over lunch, Eun-sang announces a plan to make enough money to quit her job, by investing her life's savings in cryptocurrency. What's more, she thinks the others should join her. All they need to do, she says, is hold on tight and wait for the price to skyrocket . . . to the moon. But as the market begins to fluctuate and spiral out of their control, the fate of their friendships - and their futures - soon hangs in the balance.
What readers are saying:
'A propulsive story that kept me on the razor wire of anxious and hopeful'
'This book was like no other'
'Bittersweet and deeply relatable ... A must-read'
Reviews / Votes
With its likeable trio, this zeitgeisty rags-to-riches tale is gently diverting, quietly and pleasingly subverting the narrative arc you might expect -- Stephanie Cross * Daily Mail * Their wild ride through financial turmoil demonstrates that the hopes, anxieties and issues of millennials are universal * Financial Times * This modern-day fairy tale is centred on a very modern-day premise: the rollercoaster world of cryptocurrency * Marie Clare * To the Moon is an offbeat slice-of-life novel that welds the low-key eccentricity and camaraderie, frustration and routine of office work to the much more dramatic absurdity and arbitrariness of high-risk speculation. Jang's relatable tale of workplace friendship transforms into a financial rollercoaster, shining absurd light on how much more money capital makes than workers do * Sydney Morning Herald * Once I started reading, I couldn't stop ... A page-turner packed with questions that linger stubbornly long after -- Chung Serang, author of SCHOOL NURSE AHN EUNYOUNGMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
326 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5266-8201-7 (9781526682017)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jang Ryujin
To the Moon
E-Book
06/2025
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€14.49
Available for download
Persons
Jang Ryujin has a BA in Sociology from Yonsei University and later studied Korean Literature at Dongguk University. She worked in the IT industry for eight years before writing full-time. In 2018, she won the prestigious Changbi Prize for new Figures in Literature with her acclaimed short story The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, and her 2019 debut collection went on to sell over 140,000 copies in Korea. To the Moon is her first novel.