And the River Drags Her Down

By Jihyun Yun

Book Overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - She has always known the rules: Never resurrect anything larger than the palm of her hand. But that was before her sister died. . . .

"Yun beautifully captures the haunting of family myths in this slow-burn horror. Eerie and poignant, And The River Drags Her Down will sweep readers into its relentless current." --Trang Thanh Tran, New York Times bestselling author of She Is a Haunting

A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

When her older sister is found mysteriously drowned in the river that cuts through their small coastal town, Soojin Han disregards every rule and uses her ancestral magic to bring Mirae back from the dead. At first, the sisters are overjoyed, reveling in late-night escapades and the miracle of being together again, but Mirae grows tired of hiding from the world. She becomes restless and hungry . . .

Driven by an insatiable desire to finish what she started in life, to unravel the truth that crushed her family so many years ago, Mirae is out for revenge.

When their town is engulfed by increasingly destructive rain and a series of harrowing, unusual deaths, Soojin is forced to reckon with the fact that perhaps the sister she brought back isn't the one she knew.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593904907
• ISBN13: 9780593904909
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Remarkable debut

This is my first foray into Korean folk horror. And my first taste of Mul Gwishin all together. And I am in love! I absolutely love folklore and mythology, I don't care where it comes from I need to read all the things! So this is a perfect example of Grief Horror that uses Folklore to drive home the point. I'm actually convinced at this point that Grief Horror is my favorite type of horror. This book is so beautifully written. While it's technically for a YA audience, there is zero shame in reading this as an adult. You don't come across stories that take you on emotional rollercoasters very often, and it's even rarer when it comes to the horror genre. This book does that. It's definitely my favorite for this month. This is one hell of a debut Ms. Yun, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else you bring the literary world.