Everything Happened at Once by Choi Jin-young

THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE RECORD-BREAKING AUTHOR OF HUNGER

‘An instant cult classic. You have to read it’ HARPER’S BAZAAR

What is the date today? Here, time doesn’t pass in days. I wouldn’t be surprised if spring slid straight into summer, if I looked at a clear lake and saw an old woman in my reflection.

A mutant virus has swept half of the world’s population overnight. The known world has collapsed. The new world is a lawless place where children’s livers are believed to provide immunity.

In one apartment block, an unlikely pack break out of quarantine in a stolen lorry and brave an achingly empty world once teeming with colour. The desolate reaches of Eurasia are signposted with fellow defectors and found family.

A wandering travel agent.

A mixed-race divorcee embracing her sacred desire.

A deaf girl traversing the frozen continent barefoot.

How do you find a way forward in a world turned upside down? A novel about our will to live and love until the very end, Everything Happened at Once charts the intimate landscapes of humans making liferafts out of the small miracles of the everyday.

The new novel from the author of ‘an instant cult classic’ (HARPER’S BAZAAR) with 400,000 copies sold across 10 territories

About the Author: CHOI JIN-YOUNG began writing twenty years ago. She is now one of Korea’s foremost novelists, having amassed several prestigious prizes, including the Yi Sang Literary Award, Hankyoreh Literary Award and Shin Dong-yup Literary Prize.

Her record-breaking novella, Hunger, has sold 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages.

30 Jul 2026
 

Everything Happened at Once: The new novel from the author of Hunger by Choi Jin-young ISBN 9781840919868