If I Had Your Face is a literary fiction book by author Frances Cha.
A gripping debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, South Korea, it follows four young women who make their way to a world defined by impossible beauty standards. After-hours beauty parlors cater to rich men, ruthless social hierarchy and K-pop mania.
Kyuri is a beautiful woman with a hard-earned job at a “room salon” in Seoul, an exclusive underground bar where she entertains businessmen as they drink. She prides herself on her cold, lucid approach to life, but an impulsive mistake threatens her livelihood.
Kyuri’s roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York.
Down the hallway in their building is the life of Ara, a hairstylist whose two preoccupations maintain her.
And Wonna, one floor below, is a newlywed couple trying to have a baby that she and her husband don’t know how to raise in Korea’s harsh economy.
Their story tells a fascinating tale that is both alien and unmistakably common, in which their temporary friendship may turn out to be what ultimately saves them.
