Hot Key Books clinches Sujin Witherspoon's Korean café debut

Hot Key Books has bought Bingsu for Two, “an outrageously charming enemies-to-lovers coffee-shop romance”, by debut author Sujin Witherspoon.

Jenny Jacoby, editor at the Bonnier Books UK imprint, acquired UK and Commonwealth English-language rights excluding Canada from Iga Kaminska at Union Square & Co.

Set in a failing Korean café called Bingsu for Two, and filled with delicious Korean food and drink descriptions, the novel follows River Langston-Lee as he starts his barista job, working alongside grumpy goth Sarang Cho - who is determined to make River’s life hell.

After River accidentally uploads a video of his chaotic co-workers to his popular fandom account, the café strikes viral fame and the two teenagers find themselves begrudgingly faking a relationship online to keep up the café’s popularity and save it financially.

Hot Key said the novel chimes with the “healing fiction” trend discussed earlier this year by figures in the trade.

Witherspoon said: “Bingsu for Two is my love letter to fandom, the rom-com genre and multicultural kids everywhere who feel split between worlds. I wrote this book as a teen who, more than anything, needed to hear that it was OK to make mistakes and fail, that it was OK to not know who I was yet.”

Jacoby added: “Bingsu for Two is the most uplifting, hilarious and compelling rom-com I’ve read in a long time – though it has left me with something of a bingsu habit. It’s a delight and I’m envious of readers getting to enjoy it for the first time.”

Witherspoon is a Korean-American writer and artist who has a degree in English from the University of Washington.