A Magical Girl Retires
A Novel
Will be published approx. on 16. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-06-338827-7 (ISBN)
Description
A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga.
Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman decides to end her troubles by jumping off Seoul's Mapo Bridge.
But her suicide attempt is interrupted by a girl dressed all in white-her guardian angel. Ah Roa is a clairvoyant magical girl on a mission to find the greatest magical girl of all time. And our protagonist just may be that special someone.
But the young woman's initial excitement turns to frustration when she learns being a magical girl in real life is much different than how it's portrayed in stories. It isn't just destiny-it's work. Magical girls go to job fairs, join trade unions, attend classes. And for this magical girl there are no special powers and no great perks, and despite being magical, she still battles with low self-esteem. Her magic wand . . . is a credit card-which she must use to defeat a terrifying threat that isn't a monster or an intergalactic war. It's global climate change. Because magical girls need to think about sustainability, too.
Park Seolyeon reimagines classic fantasy tropes in a novel that explores real-world challenges that are both deeply personal and universal: the search for meaning and the desire to do good in a world that feels like it's ending. A fun, fast-paced, and enchanting narrative that sparkles thanks to award-nominated translator Anton Hur, A Magical Girl Retires reminds us that we are all magical girls-that fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight can be anyone's game.
Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur
Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman decides to end her troubles by jumping off Seoul's Mapo Bridge.
But her suicide attempt is interrupted by a girl dressed all in white-her guardian angel. Ah Roa is a clairvoyant magical girl on a mission to find the greatest magical girl of all time. And our protagonist just may be that special someone.
But the young woman's initial excitement turns to frustration when she learns being a magical girl in real life is much different than how it's portrayed in stories. It isn't just destiny-it's work. Magical girls go to job fairs, join trade unions, attend classes. And for this magical girl there are no special powers and no great perks, and despite being magical, she still battles with low self-esteem. Her magic wand . . . is a credit card-which she must use to defeat a terrifying threat that isn't a monster or an intergalactic war. It's global climate change. Because magical girls need to think about sustainability, too.
Park Seolyeon reimagines classic fantasy tropes in a novel that explores real-world challenges that are both deeply personal and universal: the search for meaning and the desire to do good in a world that feels like it's ending. A fun, fast-paced, and enchanting narrative that sparkles thanks to award-nominated translator Anton Hur, A Magical Girl Retires reminds us that we are all magical girls-that fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight can be anyone's game.
Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur
Reviews / Votes
"A weird, delightful little book, simultaneously grim and breezy. . . . A very entertaining read" - Locus"As a millennial and lover of all things magical girls, I adored this celebration of all things magical girl and how they might play out in the real world. The illustrations by Kim Sanho took me back to all of my favorite manga I read growing up. This one was such a fun read." - Book Riot
"[A Magical Girl Retires is] sweet and smart and funny and knows exactly what it's doing. Usually high concept books like this get a little lost in their own sauce, but Seolyeon keeps her focus tight and gets in and out quickly. . . . A Magical Girl Retires is as much fun as you'd expect it to be (read: extremely)." - Literary Hub "38 Favorite Books of 2024"
"Park pictures a world on the brink of collapse, with no one paying the price-and shows what it might take for a millennial to not only survive, but to capture her own dreams and make her life worth living." - Den of Geek "Best Books of 2024"
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-06-338827-7 (9780063388277)
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
Persons
Born in 1989, Park Seolyeon made her debut winning the Silcheon Munhak New Writers Prize in 2015 for her short story "Mickey Mouse Club." Her books include the novels The Job of Marta, The Shirley Club, A Magical Girl Retires, and Capitalists Must Starve, which won the 2018 Hankyoreh Literature Prize, as well as the story collections My Hormones Made Me Do It, Your Mom's the Better Player, and Me, Me, Madeline. Her stories have been translated into Japanese, French, German, and English. She lives in Seoul, South Korea.
Anton Hur was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and was subsequently raised in six different countries on four different continents, including British Hong Kong, Ethiopia, the United States, and Thailand, but he spent most of his time in Korea. He has worked as an interpreter and translator for more than two decades. In 2022, he was double longlisted and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, and, in 2023, his translation of Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny was a finalist for the National Book Awards. He lives in Seoul.
Anton Hur was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and was subsequently raised in six different countries on four different continents, including British Hong Kong, Ethiopia, the United States, and Thailand, but he spent most of his time in Korea. He has worked as an interpreter and translator for more than two decades. In 2022, he was double longlisted and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, and, in 2023, his translation of Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny was a finalist for the National Book Awards. He lives in Seoul.