In South Korea, where impossible beauty standards and ruthless social hierarchies dictate your every move, four women are balancing on a razor’s edge:

Kyuri, a beautiful ‘room salon’ girl paid to entertain wealthy businessmen after hours.
Miho, an artist whose life becomes enmeshed with the offspring of the super-wealthy elite.
Ara, a hairstylist whose obsession with a K-pop star leads her to violent extremes.
Wonna, their neighbour, pregnant with a child that she can’t afford.

Set in the drinking dens and beauty salons of Seoul, If I Had Your Face is an electrifying debut novel about female strength, resilience and the solace that friendship can provide.

‘Cha’s writing always crackles . . . Touching, compelling and icily cool’ Observer

‘Fascinating, eye-opening, compelling – like the film Parasite, If I Had Your Face is also an exposé of the class system in South Korea’ Independent

‘Absolutely stunning. . . Assured, bold, and electrifying’ Taylor Jenkins Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of DAISY JONES & THE SIX and MALIBU RISING

‘One of the buzziest debuts of the year, If I Had Your Face transports readers to glittering, futuristic Seoul… Essential reading‘ Vogue

‘Culturally fascinating, emotionally layered, gripping and smart’ Curtis Sittenfeld, bestselling author of PREP and AMERICAN WIFE

‘Glittering, engrossing’ Helen Oyeyemi, author of GINGERBREAD

‘Remarkable, brilliantly crafted and devastatingly exquisite’ Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of CRAZY RICH ASIANS

LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2021