The Dallergut Dream Department Store: A Novel

by Miye Lee, Sandy Joosun Lee (Translator)

Overview

THE #1 KOREAN BESTSELLER WITH OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD

For fans of magical realism and the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi comes this cozy fantasy debut.

What if there was a store that sold dreams? Which would you buy? And who might you become when you wake up?

In a mysterious town hidden in our collective subconscious there's a department store that sells dreams. Day and night, visitors both human and animal shuffle in to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor specializes in a specific type of dream: childhood memories, food dreams, ice skating, dreams of stardom. Flying dreams are almost always sold out. Some seek dreams of loved ones who have died.

For Penny, an enthusiastic new hire, working at Dallergut is the opportunity of a lifetime. As she uncovers the workings of this whimsical world, she bonds with a cast of unforgettable characters, including Dallergut, the flamboyant and wise owner, Babynap Rockabye, a famous dream designer, Maxim, a nightmare producer, and the many customers who dream to heal, dream to grow, and dream to flourish.

A captivating story that will leave a lingering magical feeling in readers' minds, this is the first book in a bestselling duology for anyone exhausted from the reality of their daily life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780369749352
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	07/09/2024
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	194,317
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

MIYE LEE was born in Busan in 1990. After graduating from the Busan National University School of Materials Science and Engineering, she worked as a semiconductor engineer at Samsung Electronics. Her debut novel, The Dallergut Dream Department Store, was published entirely funded through a crowdfunding service in Korea in 2020 and has since drawn many enthusiastic responses and favorable reviews.

SANDY JOOSUN LEE is a translator and interpreter based in Seoul. Her translations include Won-pyung Sohn’s Almond (HarperVia, 2020). She also works in animation, translating and developing animated content, which includes The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021) and Star Wars: Visions (2023).

Editorial Reviews

05/27/2024

Lee debuts with the quirky tale of a store where dreams are sold in glass bottles to customers hoping to cure their various ills while unconscious. Penny, who gets a job as a vendor despite thinking she botched the interview, learns the trade of dream selling from her wise boss, Dallergut, and her colleagues Weather, Mogberry, Speedo, Motail, and Vigo Myers. Her gentle, episodic narrative chronicles the many customers and their desires. One patron wants her crush to appear in her dreams, while another, who is dying, wants to create dreams with parting messages for their loved ones. Some customers hope for a glimpse into the future; others use dreams to cope with trauma—though they aren’t necessarily happy with the results. The stakes are low and the plot minimal, but it’s a joy to spend time in this whimsical world and the endlessly inventive ways that Lee deploys dreams and nightmares will keep readers invested. This will especially appeal to fans of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"A fantastical narrative."—CNN

“This delightful story transcends Penny’s experiences to be about so much more. A comforting story of dreams, lives, and the ways people process all that reality offers them.”—Kirkus

“Whimsical and sweet... All things are possible in Lee's captivating world."—Shelf Awareness

"A charming foray into the land of sleep. This is an excellent choice for a gentle book club read."—Library Journal STARRED review

"These days I’m reading a book called Dallergut Dream Department Store and when they talk about the dream department store I can see it in my head. I imagine I’m shopping there as I read."—Wonwoo and member of the K-Pop group Seventeen

"A page-turning bearhug of a novel that brings the elusive technicolor world of dream beautifully to life. Like all good fantasy fiction, Miye Lee smuggles in the big issues, too: the divide between rich and poor, the unrequited yearnings of the soul, and the aching pain of loss and bereavement. There’s a tenderness to the book, and the eponymous department store, in all its Wes-Anderson-like color and frippery, that envelopes the reader, making them long to stay there forever."—Alex Howard, author of The Ghost Cat

"I read this and it was so much fun! The people in this book go to the DallerGut Dream Department Store in their dreams....It was so much fun when I imagined it! I The writer of this novel must be brilliant, because this world was so creative. You need to read this too!"—Yugyeom, member of the K-Pop group Got7


"The author who revolutionized the world of Korean fiction is also influencing and changing the broader realm of Korean literature now."—Maeil Business News Korea

"A strong plot and intriguing storyline."—Top Class

"A magic book that captivates anyone who reads it. This book is exceptionally rare and precious, as it combines the allure of fantasy novel with popularity."—Readers News

"The Dallergut Dream Department Store resonates with and comforts those who don't even dare to dream and find themselves exhausted by the harsh realities of life."—Opinion News

"This book has the unique ability to evoke both tears and tranquility. A perfect read for moments of exhaustion and the yearning to escape reality, it possesses the power to mend weary hearts."—Insight

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2024

DEBUT Lee's debut novel, a Korean best seller, is a charming foray into the land of sleep. Here, talented creatives produce dreams for sleepers to purchase. The luckiest sleepers will find their way to Dallergut's Dream Department Store, where the staff believe that dreams should matter, and do their best to match people with dreams that will improve their lives. Readers are guided through this world by the store's newest hire, Penny, whose willingness to speak up and ask questions allows for natural exposition and worldbuilding. While there is very little action, the novel is comforting and sweet. Many readers will appreciate the central messages, that life is better when well-rested and that dreams matter, no matter how nonsensical, stressful, or easily forgotten they might be. In fact, as demonstrated through vignettes about people in the waking world, sometimes the most irritating dreams are the push one needs to change their life. For a novel about dreams, the level of surrealism remains low, despite fluffy anthropomorphic tigers with pajamas and mechanical eyelids to monitor customer sleepiness. VERDICT This is an excellent choice for a gentle book club read.—Matthew Galloway

Library Journal

2024-05-04
A young woman gets her dream job—working in a department store that sells dreams to sleeping people.

Starting with the premise that the dream plane is a bustling metropolis, this book follows Penny, a new employee at the Dallergut Dream Department Store. The gently unwinding story follows Penny from her interview through her first year on the job. She works at the front desk of the department store and gets to know the managers and their teams on each floor above her: the hyperorganized Vigo Myers sells dreams of simplicity—quick getaways, hanging out with friends, enjoying good food—on the second floor; the cheerful Mogberry on the third floor sells groundbreaking activity-related dreams with her free-spirited teammates; the fast-talking, fast-moving, jumpsuit-clad Speedo sells nap-exclusive dreams with his team on the fourth floor, many of them to babies and animals; and Penny’s loud, center-of-attention-seeking old schoolmate Motail on the fifth floor sells all the leftover dreams from the lower floors at steep discounts. Penny’s mentor is Mr. Dallergut himself, descended, as legend has it, from the family that founded the metropolis. The story touches on the customers who arrive to buy dreams, never remembering that they’re shopping for dreams but returning again and again; the furry Noctilucas who run around behind dreamers making sure they’re properly clad in dressing gowns and socks if they arrive naked; as well as the dreams themselves: soothing dreams of people loved and lost, dreams of flying, dreams of eating, dreams to process trauma, and dreams of otherworldly worlds and richly drawn travel. Translated from Korean, this delightful story transcends Penny’s experiences to be about so much more.

A comforting story of dreams, lives, and the ways people process all that reality offers them.

Kirkus Reviews