Published in paperback by Pan, £7.99 (ebook £4.74)
Novels designed to appeal to both adults and children are invariably doomed to failure as simplistic language disinterests the former group, or contextual complexities confuse the latter.
So rare then, is this wonderfully inclusive modern fable that it must be read and enjoyed by all. Ahn Do-hyeon’s The Salmon Who Dared To Leap Higher – translated into English for the first time here by Deborah Smith – tells the story of a young salmon with uncharacteristically silver scales which separate him from his peers.
As his shoal journey upstream to achieve their goal of reproduction, Silver-Salmon ponders the meaning of life, questioning his destiny and whether what makes us different really makes us ‘different’.
Do-hyeon’s story is succinct in translating its messages about ambition, love and our relationship with nature in a gentle manner, and the novel’s beauty is in the innocence of it’s language. Elegantly simple and affective, this is a novel for everyone.
Book Review: The Salmon Who Dared To Leap Higher by Ahn Do-hyeon
