The Valley of Parting, Lim Chulwoo’s first novel in six years, takes its name from Byeoreogok Station, a flag stop in the hills of Gangwon-do (province). Starting with “Autumn,” followed by “Winter,” “Summer,” and “Spring,” the four chapters of The Valley of Parting are narrated, respectively, by Jeong Dong-su, a young would-be-poet and railway conductor who guards a secret about his father; Mr. Shin, a conductor facing retirement but who is haunted by an old mistake that caused a train accident; Jeon Sun-rye, who cannot forget her traumatic experience as a sex slave to Japanese soldiers; and Yang Sun-ji, consumed by guilt because she may have unwittingly identified and caused the death of a deserter during the war when she was a child.

Source: http://www.list.or.kr/content/remembering-heartache-valley-parting-lim-c...