If you’re looking for a slim, comfortable little novella that is reminiscent of the heart hug I get from Backman, try Kim Ho-Yeon’s The Second Chance Convenience Store. (Translated by Janet Hong, Originally published in South Korea 2021; English translation published by Harper Perennial 2025). It’s full of warmth and humor, found families, and second chances. The story unfolds in a series of interlocking chapters with different POVs, and it’s delightful.
The novel opens with Mrs. Yeom Yeong-sook, the owner of a convenience store that her son wants her to sell, realizing she’s lost her wallet. A man calls her because he’s found the wallet at Seoul Station, and she goes to meet him. Dokgo is homeless, unkempt, smells bad, and stutters. To thank him for finding her wallet, Mrs. Yeong-sook offers for him to come by her store whenever he wants and get a lunch box. He starts coming every day, eventually winning over the staff and the customers. She eventually hires him to work the night shift.
As the stories unfold and Dokgo helps every he encounters, he starts to get better and his memory starts to return. From failed careers to alcoholism to writer’s block and family drama, Dokgo is a listening ear and a voice of reason. He heralds in second chances, wiping the dust off so folks can see it was always there.
Then Mrs. Yeong-sook’s greedy son hires a detective to find out who Dokgo really is and what his loss of memory is really hiding. Will Dokgo also get a second chance?
The Second Chance Convenience Store is a quick and sweet read.
A Girl Named Tommi 