Children's & YA

The Wizard Bakery

by Gu Byeong-mo

Description

THIS FANTASTICAL COMING-OF -AGE NOVEL follows several eventful weeks in the life of a nameless 16-year-old boy, whose mother committed suicide when he was young, and who lives in an unhappy household with his father, stepmom, and 8-year-old stepsister. For six years since the stepmother joined the family, she has slowly but definitely pushed the boy out of the familial circle. She relegates him to his room, stops doing laundry or cooking for him, and ices him out. When he was twelve, he developed a severe stutter and since then has struggled with school, bullying, and other issues, retreating and staying silent. He takes care of his meals by buying baked goods at the neighborhood bakery, Wizard Bakery, which is operated by an odd baker and a nice cashier.
With an arch, darkly funny voice, this fantastical novel grapples with the choices you make in life and their consequences, the power of kind, generous strangers in changing someone’s life, and the family you are born into vs. the one you create. Slim and streamlined as it might be, this novel reveals a unique voice, one that is bold and exciting. This novel won the Changbi Young Adult Literature Award in 2009.

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Author Biography

By the author of Brusied Fruit

Barbara J. Zitwer Agency

Barbara J. Zitwer Agency

BJZ Agency is a global literary agency that is based in New York City for over 22 years.  Barbara J Zitwer’s strength and  expertise is in her ability to discover new writers and launch their international careers.  She also works with established authors in their home countries like Korea, who want to break out into the world.   At the beginning, Zitwer discovered Jerry Stahl, Eric Garcia, Sharon Krum, and The Friday Night Knitting Club which was a NYTimes Bestseller for over a year, Jeff Noon, winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award for his debut Vurt among others.  She is responsible for the Korean New Wave in global  publishing which won her the 2016 International Literary Agent of the Year Award and launched the careers of Shirley Jackson Prize winner Hye young Pyun’s The Hole, Booker International Prize winner Han Kang’s THE VEGETARIAN and Kyung sook Shin’s Please Look After Mom, Man Asian Prize winner and also became a NY TIMES Bestseller., Un su Kim’s international sensation The Plotters, You Jeong Jeong’s The Good Son, a Seo mi-Ae’s The Only Child among many others.   From Poland, our authors include Man Booker International and prize winning poet and novelist Wioletta Greg and bestselling, award-winning, Kaja Malanowska, with her literary thriller FOG. We are always looking for and reading works of undiscovered writers from every part of the globe and  we  are working with the best millennial writers Madeleine Ryan and Jamie Marina Lau from Australia, Won-pyun Sohn, Ji ri Park from Korea.  We are proud to work with  Turkish writers, Ozgu Mumcu, Ersin Saygin and Defne Suman called the Elena Ferrante of Turkey.

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Changbi
  • Orginal LanguageKorean
  • Publish StatusPublished

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