The release date for the English version of 'The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story' by
Hyeonseo Lee is Jul 2015. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
A remarkable look into life under one of the most brutal and reclusive dictatorships in history, as well as the gripping account of a woman's heroic battle to save her family from detention and deportation and lead them to freedom.
Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions of children growing up in North Korea who were imprisoned by a cruel and covert authoritarian government. She was somewhat exposed to the outside world due to her residence near the Chinese border, and when the 1990s famine occurred, she started to reflect and recognise that she had been indoctrinated her whole life. Surely, given the persecution, destitution, and hunger she saw, her nation could not be, as she had been informed, "the best on the planet"?
She made the decision to leave North Korea at the age of 17. It seemed unimaginable to her that it would take twelve years to be reunited with her family.
Rumours about her escape were becoming viral, so she was unable to go back, and she and her family risked being punished by the government, which included detention, torture, and maybe public death. Instead, in an attempt to adapt and live, Hyeonseo stayed in China and quickly picked up the language. After twelve years and two lives, she would bravely return to the North Korean border to undertake one of the hardest, most expensive, and riskiest undertakings imaginable—that of transporting her mother and brother to South Korea.
This is a singular tale of Hyeonseo's journey from darkness to light, as well as her maturation, education, and her unwavering determination to reconstruct her life—first in China, then in South Korea. This book, which is bold, strong, and lyrical, is a triumph of her extraordinary character.