The Girl in the Red Shoes: A North Korean Defector's Tale [B1021]

2016 PB in nice clean condition. 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"? At age 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.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "The story of her mission to escape to South Korea and ultimately the USA, with her family, is amazing and inspiring, harrowing and fraught with danger."; "Had me on the edge of my seat the whole way. The story of her years-long migration through China was just as harrowing and eye-opening as early chapters on her childhood in North Korea. An incredible story of resilience in the face of a system hostile to migrants seeking a better life."; "I really enjoyed this book. I felt involved in the story. I learned a lot. Something I will remember reading."