The Midnight Timetable

a novel in ghost stories
Bora Chung (trans. Anton Hur)

‘The keen insights into a society and the nonstop pacing of the folk tales kept me on the edge of my seat.’

Kim Bo-Young, author of National Book Award–longlisted On the Origin of Species and Other Stories

‘Beautiful, eerie stories that are unpredictable and sprawl endlessly.’

Kang Hwa-gil, author of Another Person

From the author and translator of the National Book Award finalist and Booker Prize shortlisted Cursed Bunny, comes a new novel-in-ghost-stories, set in a mysterious research centre that houses cursed objects, where those who open the wrong door might find it’s disappeared behind them, or that the echoing footsteps they’re running from are their own …

The acclaimed Korean horror and sci-fi writer’s goosebump-inducing new book follows an employee on the night shift at the Institute. They soon learn why some employees don’t last long at the centre. The handkerchief in Room 302 once belonged to the late mother of two sons, whose rivalry imbues the handkerchief with undue power and unravels those around it. The cursed sneaker down the hall is stolen by a live-streaming, ghost-chasing employee, who later finds he can’t escape its tread. A cat in Room 206 reveals the crimes of its former family, trying to understand its own path to the Institute’s halls.

But Chung’s haunted institute isn’t just a chilling place to play. As in her astounding collections Cursed Bunny and Your Utopia, these violent allegories take on the horrors of animal testing, conversion therapy, domestic abuse, and late-stage capitalism. Equal parts bone-chilling, wryly funny, and deeply political, The Midnight Timetable is a masterful work of literary horror from one of our time’s greatest imaginations.

‘The keen insights into a society and the nonstop pacing of the folk tales kept me on the edge of my seat.’

Kim Bo-Young, author of National Book Award–longlisted On the Origin of Species and Other Stories

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 210mm × 135mm

Extent:208pp

ISBN (13):9781761381690

RRP:$29.99

Pub date:30 Sep 2025

High-res cover:Download Image

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AUTHOR

Bora Chung

Bora Chung is a writer and translator whose works include the National Book Award finalist and International Booker Prize–shortlisted Cursed Bunny. She has an MA in Russian Studies from Yale University and a PhD in Slavic literature from Indiana University. She has taught Russian language and literature and science fiction at Yonsei University, and translates modern literary works from Russian and Polish into Korean.

TRANSLATOR

Anton Hur

Anton Hur was born in Stockholm, Sweden. His translation of Sang Young Park’s Love in the Big City was longlisted for the Booker International Prize in 2022, and his translation of Bora Chung’s Cursed Bunny was shortlisted for the same award. He lives in Seoul.

Cursed Bunny

Bora Chung

RRP: $29.99 Pub date: 28 Feb 2023 Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Cover view

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Your Utopia

Bora Chung

RRP: $27.99 Pub date: 30 Jan 2024 Category: Cover view

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