*My Palpitating Life* by Kim Ae-ran (South Korea), People's Literature Publishing House

"Genius South Korean Post-80s Female Writer" Kim Ae-ran's first full-length masterpiece

Tells the story of the youngest parents and the oldest child

Starring Song Hye-kyo and Gang Dong-won in the film adaptation

Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Xu Zechen's preface, "As I Ponder, Understand Me, Know People"

"In this novel, I certainly saw illness and a profound appreciation and contemplation of life. But if I had to summarize it in one word, I would say I saw 'humanity.'"

Han A-reum, seventeen years old. He loves reading, joking, and eating red bean shaved ice, and dislikes soybean rice, cold weather, and amusement parks. He loves his parents most of all. He wants to be the funniest child in the world. His wish is to successfully celebrate his eighteenth birthday. A-reum's body age has been measured at eighty years old; one hour for others is one day for him, and one month for others is one year for him...

“My Brilliant Life” is Kim Ae-ran's first full-length novel. The protagonists are Han A-reum, a boy with progeria, and his parents, who, despite being only thirty-four years old, have seventeen years of parenting experience. While the inevitability of death is one of the novel's themes, the steadfast love, dazzling youth, and the power of living in the present are more extensively explored. In 2014, the film adaptation, starring South Korean actors Song Hye-kyo and Gang Dong-won, was released; the following year, the lead actress won the Baeksang Arts Award for Most Popular Actress for her role in the film.