“The Incendiaries” is a sharp little novel as hard to ignore as a splinter in your eye. You keep blinking at these pages, struggling to bring the story into some comforting focus, convinced you can look past its unsettling intimations. But R.O. Kwon, the 35-year-old Korean American author, doesn’t...

about North and South Korea have dominated the news recently, but what do Americans really know about the history of these countries? There may be some gaps in our collective knowledge, but a trio of novels steps into that void, beautifully illuminating Korea’s past in ways that inform our present.