Almond: A Haunting Tale of Isolation, Violence, and Unexpected Connection

"This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster. One of the monsters is me."

Yunjae was born different. His brain condition, alexithymia, makes it nearly impossible for him to feel or understand emotions. While others cry, laugh, or rage, Yunjae remains still—his face unreadable, his heart unmoved. His world is small but safe, sheltered by his fiercely loving mother and grandmother. But on the night of his sixteenth birthday, that fragile world is ripped apart in a brutal act of senseless violence.

Alone and struggling to navigate a life without the two people who understood him, Yunjae retreats further into his quiet existence. Then he meets Gon—wild, angry, and self-destructive. A boy who lashes out at the world, daring it to hit back. Against all odds, the two form a strange, fragile connection. As Yunjae’s once-rigid walls begin to crack, he discovers that emotions are not as distant as they once seemed. And when Gon’s life spirals toward danger, Yunjae faces a choice that will define him: remain the detached observer or step forward, for the first time, as a friend.

A mesmerizing, deeply moving novel, Almond is a story of loneliness, resilience, and the power of human connection. With striking prose and raw emotional depth, Sohn Won-pyung crafts a powerful meditation on what it means to feel—and what it means to be human.