★ The latest work of Jeong Han-ah, a highly anticipated master storyteller and a pillar of Korean literature

★ A brand-new full-length masterpiece after an eight-year hiatus since "The Intimate Stranger" (the original novel of the TV drama "Anna")!

★ A psychological drama that leads to self-healing

Lee Ma-chi, an actress adorned with a lifetime of glory and wealth.
As the years quietly pass by, she gradually slips into the fog of memory.
For her, a special studio set has been constructed, fully encapsulating her entire life.
In this restored past, she rediscovers those life moments that are even more shocking than movie plots.

In 2005, as a senior undergraduate student, Jeong Han-ah made a sensational debut in the literary world by winning the Dae San Literary Award. Twenty years have passed in a flash, and Jeong Han-ah has firmly established herself as a pillar of Korean literature. Over these two decades, she has been consistently productive, continuously scaling new heights in the field of novel writing and achieving remarkable success. From the short story collections "Smile for Me" (2009), "Annie" (2015), to "Wine and Vanilla" (2021), she skillfully condenses the depth and mystery of life within her short stories, showcasing extraordinary insight. Her full-length novels such as "The Sea of the Moon" (2007), "Little Chicago" (2012), and "The Intimate Stranger" (2017), with their exquisite structures and captivating plots, have set excellent examples of how to keep readers engaged throughout a long story.

With "The Intimate Stranger" being adapted into the Netflix drama "Anna" starring Bae Suzy and Jung Eun-chae, the public has been eagerly anticipating Jeong Han-ah's next work. Now, she makes a grand comeback with her new novel "Ma-chi in March" after an eight-year wait. This novel focuses on a bold attempt by a person to reconcile with herself—by directly facing her past self. This idea may seem absurd, but it is full of exciting possibilities.

In the book, Jeong Han-ah creates the character of an accomplished elderly actress, Lee Ma-chi. Having weathered the tempests of life, Lee Ma-chi is a resilient "survivor," yet the years have left indelible scars on her. Now, Alzheimer's disease comes crashing in like a powerful tide, pushing her towards the abyss of forgetfulness. In order to retrieve her lost memories, Lee Ma-chi embarks on a fantastical journey, using virtual reality technology to return to the past.
During this process, will Lee Ma-chi be able to successfully reunite with her former self and reclaim those profound moments that have been buried by the passage of time? Faced with the relentless waves of forgetfulness and loss, how should she choose? Should she strive to resist and hold on to every painful or precious memory, or should she let time wash everything away? "Ma-chi in March" is like a mysterious invitation, leading readers into a charming and fantastical virtual world, where all the established concepts of happiness and misfortune will be reexamined and shattered.

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【Preview of the Inner Pages】
The first thing Lee Ma-chi does every morning when she wakes up is to weigh herself. Her weight has remained at 55 kilograms for years, and it stays the same unless there are special circumstances. She is an actress.
(…)
On the morning of her birthday, Lee Ma-chi stepped onto the scale as usual, but to her surprise, the number on the scale flickered and showed 59 before disappearing. It was clearly 55 kilograms the day before. How could her weight have increased so much overnight? (Pages 7-8)
The story begins on the morning of Lee Ma-chi's 60th birthday. Her birthday is in March, and for this reason, she has lived her whole life with the unique name "Ma-chi (March)." However, this otherwise ordinary birthday seems stranger than ever. Her weight, which she has strictly controlled as an actress, has changed drastically overnight. And the abnormal situations in Lee Ma-chi's daily life are far from over. After moving house a few months ago, she has been experiencing a series of strange things. First, her memory suddenly declined, affecting her acting career. Then, strange noises often came from her solitary home. Eventually, she even saw a wandering ghost in her house.
That night, Lee Ma-chi clearly saw the ghost. In the middle of the night, while she was lying in bed, she suddenly heard strange noises. Bang, bang, bang, it was the sound of a door closing. Lee Ma-chi got up and carefully checked every corner of the house. All the doors were tightly closed. But when she got back to bed, she heard footsteps again, followed by the sound of a door closing. Bang, bang, bang. Thud, thud, thud. Bang, bang, bang. Thud, thud, thud. The sound was like rolling thunder, and a pungent smell of decay filled the room instantly. Lee Ma-chi was frozen with fear. She saw a figure standing by the bed. It had a long and pointed face, a hunched body, dragging a wet dress, with rotting hands and feet oozing pus, and it was grinning. (Pages 33-34)
However, Lee Ma-chi couldn't give up that seemingly cursed house. Because this is the home she has been holding on to for decades, hoping that her son who went missing when he was a child would come back one day. Moreover, the house that has just been rebuilt is a high-end apartment that matches her social status. Lee Ma-chi spared no expense and went to a brain medicine clinic for help. The clinic suggested that she receive customized virtual reality (VR) treatment based on her own memories. In order to create the VR, she visited the clinic several times. On the day when the last consultation was about to take place, Lee Ma-chi turned 60, her weight was different from the day before, and the clinic also cancelled the consultation temporarily. She had an unusually strange day. After returning to the apartment, Lee Ma-chi encountered a series of nightmarish things. All the elevators broke down, and she had no choice but to climb the stairs to her home on the 60th floor, the top floor.
At that moment, she understood an important truth in life: when facing a seemingly endless and long journey, never look at the destination. Don't look ahead, and don't look up either. Instead, lower your gaze and just look at your toes while walking. (…) While climbing up step by step with great difficulty, when she finally passed the 30th floor, a little girl ran downstairs and gently bumped into her shoulder. It was a girl with long hair wearing a school uniform. Lee Ma-chi felt an odd premonition, took a quick glance at the girl, and then continued climbing the stairs. She was out of breath, and the feeling of pain came and went in waves. When she finally reached the 60th floor, her legs had completely lost all sensation. (Pages 72-73)
Lee Ma-chi laboriously climbed up the seemingly ordinary but strange apartment building floor by floor. As if in a dream, after reaching the 60th floor, she went to the rooftop and met a neighbor lady who lived on the 43rd floor. However, at a certain moment during the conversation with the neighbor, Lee Ma-chi stiffened all over. It turned out that the lady on the 43rd floor was none other than herself at the age of 43.
Is this a dream, an illusion, or has she unknowingly stepped into a virtual reality world? If it is virtual reality, when did she start to be trapped in it? The confused Lee Ma-chi accidentally met the apartment manager, "Noah." Then, together with Noah, who seemed to know the secrets of the building, she began to explore the apartment thoroughly.
How meticulously can life be depicted? This is a panoramic picture that shows the joys, sorrows, loves, hatreds, and struggles of pain that embody a person's unique talents and values.
Lee Ma-chi gradually uncovered the mysterious structure of the apartment. Each floor was occupied by a different version of herself at a different age. When she opened the door of each floor, the scene inside was exactly the way Lee Ma-chi had lived in that corresponding age. There was Lee Ma-chi who was immersed in grief after losing her beloved son; Lee Ma-chi who gave up her career and reluctantly experienced multiple unexpected pregnancies and childbirths; Lee Ma-chi who was just starting out and gained recognition for her innate acting talent; Lee Ma-chi who was abused by her mother and full of scars; and even Lee Ma-chi who was just born and ignorant... Now, the current Lee Ma-chi meets her past selves one by one and pours out the words that have been pent up in her heart for a long time. She expresses her love to the children she once neglected, and takes revenge on the mother she once hated. At the same time, Lee Ma-chi feels an unprecedented sense of satisfaction. However, as the tragic truths of the past that she herself was unaware of gradually come to light, the "scene" that carries all her life's memories is also on the verge of collapse.
The past that Lee Ma-chi has retrieved does not completely match her memories. Sometimes, the people around her would falsely embellish her past; sometimes, Lee Ma-chi herself would unconsciously distort reality into an acceptable form. Then, how much credibility do we have in those long memories that we have always regarded as our lives? Does life really have a tangible essence? It seems that Jeong Han-ah conveys such an idea in the book: life is not a simple recollection of past times, but should be perceived through the actions, emotions, and pain of each present moment. Those unique momentary experiences come together to shape a unique and valuable individual. But once a certain moment loses its present vitality and becomes dim, it is difficult to add luster to life anymore. So, don't be bound by the past. Accept the joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains of the present calmly, and let nature take its course, and we will move towards completeness. When Jeong Han-ah speaks these words through the characters in the novel, we who have been shouldering the burden of life can also feel a little more relieved. "Let it go. Let go of all your memories, let go of everything you have been clinging to as your life. Those insignificant failures and successes, let them all go." (Page 228)

Jeong Han-ah
Born in Seoul in 1982, she graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Konkuk University and later completed her master's degree at the same university's graduate school. In 2005, she won the Dae San Literary Award, and in 2007, she won the 12th Literary Village Writers Award for her full-length novel "The Sea of the Moon." During her studies at the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Konkuk University, she won the Dae San Literary Award. She would stay in her studio from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., setting regular working hours just like an office worker and writing.

She is the author of short story collections such as "Smile for Me," "Annie," "Wine and Vanilla," and full-length novels including "The Sea of the Moon," "Little Chicago," "The Intimate Stranger," etc.
Critics have evaluated her works as "more faithful to traditional narrative than to reflecting genre elements or making experimental attempts. Instead of mobilizing the imagination of fantasy or science fiction that young writers mainly have nowadays, it is through the innocent, bright sensibility and refreshing style in realistic materials that a sense of mystery is created instead."

Awards she has received include the Literary Village Writers Award, the Kim Yong-ik Novel Literature Award, the Han Mu-suk Literary Award, the Kim Seung-ok Literary Award's Excellence Award, and the Dae San Literary Award.