A fascinating story of a young woman’s escape from North Korea.

As one can imagine, this story was heart breaking and inspiring in so many ways that it was a very quick and satisfying read. The material was heavy but the style of writing was not so it was easy to follow and understand.

I highly recommend this book to anyone whose interest or curiosity is peeked by the mysterious livelihoods of North Koreans in the Hermit Kingdom.

Having done some research before settling with my final thoughts, I found there there to be quite a lot of controversy over Park’s account of her journey and the way she represented the lives of North Koreans. This disheartened me quite a bit and having looked her up on social media, I must admit I’m not sure what to believe.

”…it was Park’s ‘ability to treat facts as malleable that has allowed Park to find like-minded allies on the MAGA right’", New Lines Magazine, 2014

Take what you will from that, I always say it’s best to do your own research anyway and make up one’s own mind on these things. The truth is hard to find these days and it feels awful to have doubts about someone telling their own story, especially when it is truly horrific as this is.
But unfortunately, this is the world and the times that we are living in.

An eye opening read, in every way.