In a fit of adolescent bravado, Hyeonseo crosses the river from her home town into China, to find she can't go back. Her seven name-changes correspond to her attempts to avoid arrest and deportation while she struggles to make a life for herself (and, after nightmare complications, for her mother and brother). From the appalling physical and mental conditions in North Korea to the knife-edge dangers of exile this account is absolutely mind-boggling. Unputdownable.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 83 Winter 2017 ) |
