A Chinese ginseng hunter lives alone in the valley and spends his days up in the mountains looking for ginseng and preparing for winter. He is scarcely aware of the larger world until shadowy figures hiding in the fields, bodies floating in the river, and rumors of thievery and murder begin to intrude on his cherished solitude. On one of his monthly trips to Yanji, where he buys supplies and visits a brothel, he meets a young North Korean prostitute. Through her vivid tales, the tragedy occurring across the river unfolds, and over the course of the year the hunter unnervingly discovers that the fates of the young woman and four others rest in his hands.

Spare, intimate, and strikingly atmospheric, The Ginseng Hunter takes us into the little-understood lives of North Koreans and confirms Jeff Talarigo's immense gift for storytelling.

“As incendiary as it is restrained, Talarigo's spare, evocative story provides a crucial voice to a tyrannized country.” – Booklist (starred)

“Talarigo's characterization … is both sensitive and understanding. His descriptive prose is such that readers virtually see the wrinkles of the ginseng root, hear the sparrows' high-pitched call, and taste the cold, running stream.” – Library Journal (starred)

“[The Ginseng Hunter] movingly dramatizes the human faces behind political oppression . . . A memorable, morally stringent tale.” – Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR THE PEARL DIVER

“Hypnotic . . . Talarigo’s prose is as evocative as a Hokusai woodcut.” -- Los Angeles Times

“At once exquisite and horrifying, a piece of delicacy forged out of pain and the struggle against numbness . . . There is no denying the loveliness of this book . . . In Miss Fuji, [Talarigo] has given us a genuine hero.” --Minneapolis Star Tribune

“[A] meditation on endurance and socially sanctioned cruelty . . . A quiet triumph.” --Chicago Tribune

"Utterly believable . . . The Pearl Diver does not feel like a first novel. There is nothing tentative, nothing lacking from this moving story." --New Orleans Times-Picayune

"An absolute, breathtaking gem . . . Heartbreaking, haunting, but ultimately hopeful . . . a true secret treasure . . . This one's the real thing." --AsianWeek

"Talarigo has pulled a magnificent pearl of his own from the Inland Sea, a perfectly crafted, beautifully controlled and subtly multi-layered story about belonging and isolation that quickly transcends our baser fascination with the dreaded disease." --Fort Myers News-Press

An unforgettable look at life along the fragile border between China and North Korea, The Ginseng Hunter is a confirmation of Jeff Talarigo's talent for finding humanity in the most unexpected places.