Korean novel “Please Look After Mom,” written by Shin Kyung-sook and translated into English by Kim Chi-young, is making an impact internationally, entering the top 40 bestselling books on Amazon.com.

The book was brought out in the U.S. market for the first time on April 5 by big name publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, and it ranked 34 on the list of Amazon.com’s 100 bestselling books as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

At Barnes & Nobles, the largest bookseller in the U.S., Shin’s novel made it into the top 80 for bestselling books and top 20 for novels.

The novel’s international popularity is unprecedented for a Korean work even though many Korean books have been translated into many different foreign languages. Shin’s novel is to be published in 22 countries worldwide.

The translator shifted sentences in such a flowing manner so that the book didn’t sound like a translated version.

Kim Joo-youn, president of the state-run Korea Literature Translation Institute, which helps get Korean literature translated into foreign languages, said Shin’s success overseas is the outcome of accumulated translation works by the institute.

See: The Korea Herald