Set in a unified Korea where robots have integrated seamlessly into society, LUMINIOUS is a poignant debut novel for readers of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.
LUMINOUS
by Silvia Park
Simon & Schuster, March 2025
(via The Friedrich Agency)
Adult siblings Jun and Morgan Cho haven’t seen or spoken to each other in several years. Both, in their dysfunctional way, are still processing grief over the sudden loss of their brother Yoyo years prior. Yoyo, designed by their famous father, was the earliest prototype for what the humanoid robots have now become—nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, with profound sensitivity and depth. But while he was a true brother to Jun and Morgan, Yoyo was always bound for a darker purpose, and his absence has left a chasm in the siblings’ lives.
When a neighbor’s missing robot thrusts Morgan back into Jun’s life, neither of them realizes that the investigation will not only force them to confront their fractured family’s past, but it will also see old grudges clash with new revelations, as the three siblings circle each other, their lonely worlds finally collide.
Silvia Park is a Korean/American writer and Visiting Assistant Professor of Fiction at Oberlin College. A graduate of Columbia, NYU, and the 2018 Clarion Workshop, their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Black Warrior Review, Joyland, Tor.com, and The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, among others.
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