Two Women Living Together: A Thoughtful Story of Friendship, Independence, and Redefining Family in Midlife (Hardcover )

The big-hearted, bestselling South Korean memoir co-written by two best friends flouting gender norms and societal expectations with their decision to grow old together under one roof.

When most of their peers were moving in with romantic partners and having children, Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo chose independence—savoring solitude, quiet mornings, and the unmitigated freedom of living alone. But in their forties, something shifted, and they were met with a new, unexpected loneliness. Refusing to settle for the outdated choice between marriage or isolation, Hana and Sunwoo made a radical decision: to buy a home and live together—not as lovers, not as roommates, but as chosen family.

Now a bustling household of two women and four cats, Hana and Sunwoo still value solitude, but can do so while sharing a life and its meaning with someone else. Together they navigate the challenges and comforts of cohabiting in midlife, the growing pains of interdependence and the unexpected rewards of compromise when you’ve grown set in your ways. From sick days to career wins to aging parents and beach-side retirement plans, they are redefining domestic bliss on their own terms, where love, partnership, and home are defined not by tradition, but by choice.

With warmth, wit, and sharp social insight, Hana and Sunwoo share their blueprint for building a life outside the scripts of marriage and society’s expectations for women. Two Women Living Together is a quiet revolution—a celebration of female friendship, community, and the many forms that love and family can take.

About the Author

Kim Hana is originally from Busan and moved to Seoul at the age of nineteen. As the host of a podcast for South Korea's largest online bookstore, she has shared a variety of books and authors with the general public. Her own books include Golden Bell Sound and Talking about Speaking. She is the co-host of the Two Women Talking Together podcast with her co-author and cohabitant Hwang Sunwoo. 

Gene Png is a literary translator and illustrator based in Seoul. She was awarded the Grand Prize in Poetry at the 53rd The Korea Times’ Translation Awards, and was the National Centre for Writing’s Korean Prose Mentee in 2023 where she was mentored by Anton Hur. Her translation of Cheon Seon-Ran’s THE SAVIOR AT NIGHT was published by Bloomsbury in 2025.