What does it really mean to be human?

Explore a breathtaking vision of our near future with Silvia Park to celebrate the release of their thrilling work of speculative fiction Luminous.

“I once had a family. At least, the earliest version of me had a family.”

In a future reunified Korea, robots have integrated seamlessly into society. They are surrogate servants, pets, children, even lovers - but never equals.

Siblings Jun and Morgan Cho haven’t spoken for several years, neither one willing to confront the loss of their brother, Yoyo. As children, they believed him to be just like them: human. But their father, a celebrated robot designer, had concealed the truth about Yoyo. In reality, he was very different from his human siblings, and bound for a much darker purpose.

It takes the disappearance of another child-robot to reunite Jun, a detective in the lowly Robot Crimes Unit in Seoul, and Morgan, now a prominent robot designer. What Jun’s investigation reveals will send them on a journey through the underbelly of Seoul, to unearth deeper mysteries about the history of their country and their family.

Join Silvia in conversation with Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, as they discuss this poignant exploration of humanity's essence, where speculative fiction meets mystery in a powerful debut.