Review of The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur
I finally got to read The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (Feiwel & Friends, 2021), which is her second historical fiction young adult mystery novel, set in fifteenth century Korea on the island of Jeju. This is the third of Hur’s books I’ve read, and I adored it just as much as I loved the other two.
Hwani, the main character, is the elder daughter of a detective, said to be the best detective in Joseon. After he vanishes while visiting Jeju Island and someone on the island sends Hwani his partially burned journal, Hwani runs away from her overbearing aunt to investigate his disappearance. While there, she comes back into contact with her younger sister Maewol, who was part of the reason their father had returned to Jeju Island, and the two of them work together reluctantly to solve this mystery.
While others of Hur’s historical novels have had a bit of romance interwoven into them, this one focuses much more on family and sisters who have never really gotten along with one another. As such, this story really appealed to me, since I also love exploring sibling dynamics in my own writing. Like the other books, the characters are often in danger, but they prevail in the end.
If you’ve read other books by June Hur, like I have, you will definitely love The Forest of Stolen Girls. If you haven’t, and you’re looking for a slightly dark, young adult, historical fiction novel, this is a great place to start. (The novels all share the commonalities of being set in Korea’s past, but they are not connected other than that, so you can begin with any of the books!)
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