Two Women Living Together

Two Women Talk podcasters Kim and Hwang debut with a heartwarming memoir about their unorthodox platonic cohabitation in South Korea. Uninterested in marriage but feeling they’d outgrown living alone, the pair opted to elevate their online friendship and move in together in 2016, when both were in their 40s. In alternating chapters, they recall enduring the pandemic together and mastering the division of household chores, from cooking and cleaning to podcast production. Alongside their descriptions of domestic life, they detail caring for their four cats, who provide the narrative with gentle comic relief (Goro “may be the only boy in the household, but he’s got the girliest meow,” while Youngbae “demands to be pampered” and always “looks like she’s quietly scheming”). Though much of Kim and Hwang’s arrangement sounds idyllic, they’re blunt about navigating their divergent perspectives on debt and cleanliness, and how “the way we fought led to even more fights.” They’ve always reconciled, however; as Hwang explains, “It is precisely because, as we grow older, we see more of the world’s ugliness and meet more cynics and pessimists that we’re intent on staying positive.” This is a winning testament to the power of friendship. Agent: Edwina de Charnace, MMBCreative. (Jan.)