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The girl with seven names : escape from North Korea / Hyeonseo Lee with David John.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: London : William Collins, 2016Copyright date: ©2015Edition: Paperback editionDescription: xiii, 304 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations, maps ; 20 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780007554850
  • 0007554850
Other title:
  • Girl with 7 names
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction -- Prologue -- Part One. The greatest nation on Earth. A train through the mountains -- The city at the edge of the world -- The eyes on the wall -- The lady in black -- The man beneath the bridge -- The red shoes -- Boomtown -- The secret photograph -- To be a good communist -- 'Rocky island' -- 'The house is cursed' -- Tragedy at the bridge -- Sunlight on dark water -- 'The great heart has stopped beating' -- Girlfriend of a hoodlum -- 'By the time you read this, the five of us will no longer exist in this world' -- The lights of Changbai -- Over the ice -- Part Two. To the heart of the dragon. A visit to Mr. Ahn -- Home truths -- The suitor -- The wedding trap -- Shenyang girl -- Guilt call -- The men from the south -- Interrogation -- The plan -- The gang -- The comfort of moonlight -- The biggest, brashest city in Asia -- Career woman -- A connection to Hyesan -- The teddy-bear conversations -- The tormenting of Min-ho -- The love shock -- Destination Seoul -- Part Three. Journey into darkness. 'Welcome to Korea' -- The women -- House of unity -- The learning race -- Waiting for 2012 -- A place of ghosts and wild dogs -- An impossible dilemma -- Journey into night -- Under a vast Asian sky -- Lost in Laos -- Whatever it takes -- The kindness of strangers -- Shuttle diplomacy -- Long wait for freedom -- A series of small miracles -- 'I am prepared to die' -- The beauty of a free mind -- Epilogue.
Summary: In 1997 the author, aged 17, escaped North Korea for China. Her mother's first words over the telephone to her lost daughter were "don't come back". The reprisals for all of them would have been lethal. Twelve years later she returned to the North Korean border in a daring mission to spirit her mother and brother to South Korea in a very costly and dangerous journey. This eloquent book offers the first credible account of ordinary life in North Korea and gives an extraordinary insight into the life under one of the world's most ruthless and secretive dictatorships.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Lee, H. L478 On hold 33111008826683 1
Total holds: 1

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 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.



She could not return, since rumours of her escape were spreading, and she and her family could incur the punishments of the government authorities - involving imprisonment, torture, and possible public execution. Hyeonseo instead remained in China and rapidly learned Chinese in an effort to adapt and survive. Twelve years and two lifetimes later, she would return to the North Korean border in a daring mission to spirit her mother and brother to South Korea, on one of the most arduous, costly and dangerous journeys imaginable.



This is the unique story not only of Hyeonseo's escape from the darkness into the light, but also of her coming of age, education and the resolve she found to rebuild her life - not once, but twice - first in China, then in South Korea. Strong, brave and eloquent, this memoir is a triumph of her remarkable spirit.

Includes index.

Introduction -- Prologue -- Part One. The greatest nation on Earth. A train through the mountains -- The city at the edge of the world -- The eyes on the wall -- The lady in black -- The man beneath the bridge -- The red shoes -- Boomtown -- The secret photograph -- To be a good communist -- 'Rocky island' -- 'The house is cursed' -- Tragedy at the bridge -- Sunlight on dark water -- 'The great heart has stopped beating' -- Girlfriend of a hoodlum -- 'By the time you read this, the five of us will no longer exist in this world' -- The lights of Changbai -- Over the ice -- Part Two. To the heart of the dragon. A visit to Mr. Ahn -- Home truths -- The suitor -- The wedding trap -- Shenyang girl -- Guilt call -- The men from the south -- Interrogation -- The plan -- The gang -- The comfort of moonlight -- The biggest, brashest city in Asia -- Career woman -- A connection to Hyesan -- The teddy-bear conversations -- The tormenting of Min-ho -- The love shock -- Destination Seoul -- Part Three. Journey into darkness. 'Welcome to Korea' -- The women -- House of unity -- The learning race -- Waiting for 2012 -- A place of ghosts and wild dogs -- An impossible dilemma -- Journey into night -- Under a vast Asian sky -- Lost in Laos -- Whatever it takes -- The kindness of strangers -- Shuttle diplomacy -- Long wait for freedom -- A series of small miracles -- 'I am prepared to die' -- The beauty of a free mind -- Epilogue.

In 1997 the author, aged 17, escaped North Korea for China. Her mother's first words over the telephone to her lost daughter were "don't come back". The reprisals for all of them would have been lethal. Twelve years later she returned to the North Korean border in a daring mission to spirit her mother and brother to South Korea in a very costly and dangerous journey. This eloquent book offers the first credible account of ordinary life in North Korea and gives an extraordinary insight into the life under one of the world's most ruthless and secretive dictatorships.

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