NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world’s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships – and the story of one woman’s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom.
As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by a secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with … home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and to realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. Given the repression, poverty and starvation she witnessed surely her country could not be, as she had been told “the best on the planet”?
Aged seventeen, she decided to escape North Korea. She could not have imagined that it would be twelve years before she was reunited with her family.
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This is a fascinating book that would be thrilling as fiction but even more intense knowing it is a true story
This book was a page turner and suspenseful. You were never sure what was going to happen next.
This is a true story of courage and survival, written by a very bright, intelligent young woman. Everyone needs to read this book! We are all living in a bubble. This book burst my complacent, sheltered life! And showed me the test of human love.
Unbelievable deprivation and suffering for freedom from oppression.
I could not put this book down. The narrator and her family went through so much – it is hard to believe this is happening in the 21st century. I will never take my freedoms for granted.
This was an eye opener for life in North Korea. She was so brave for all she went through.
Great insight into North Korean life.
An inspirational story about an extraordinary woman escaped from a country so different from the US and Europe that it could be the other side of the moon. The depiction of life in North Korea is particularly relevant in these troubled times.
All Americans should read it and be thankful.
Disappointed. Left out details and didn’t let reader know where she is now and how she is doing. The writing was too general and not specific.
A horrowing story of escape and survival.
This is truly an amazing book. It offers a glimpse in the harsh life of average North Koreans. The heroine wants to see China when she turned 18 (they live near a river where the opposite side is China). However, she fails to return in time to North Korea and now has to make her way in China, almost ending up working in a brothel. Since China deports North Koreans back to North Korea where their fate would be terrible, she assumes different names and tries to remain under the radar. In the end she manages through many difficulties to have her mother and brother also escape and live in South Korea. All their lives they had been told that conditions in South Korea were awful so it takes even some time to adjust. I would highly recommend this book and though at my age I now prefer to read upbeat books, i.e. no war, no crime, this book was hard to put down.
This story was sooo good but heart-breaking to know what she had to go through for herself & her family to become free !! HIGHLY RECOMMEND
This was a very informative, enlightening book about North Korea from the perspective of a woman who grew up in North Korea. It’s an easy read. I recommend it.
I had to check several times to make sure this really was a true story. Unbelievable journey from oppression to freedom.
Amazing story and fascinating glimpse of civilian life in North Korea
Fantastic book! I can’t say enough good things about this woman’s journey.
It should be required reading of every American so we appreciate our country more. Unbelievable but sadly true. Well done!
I learned so much about life in North Korea from this inspiring, courageous author
This wonderful book teaches you all you need to know about life in North Korea.
Fabulous read. First I’ve read about the horrors of living in North Korea. Beautifully written; a real page turner.