The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story

By: Hyeonseo Lee, David John

Narrated by: Josie Dunn

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.

©2015 Hyeonseo Lee (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"The most riveting TED talk ever." (Oprah)

"This is a powerful story of an escapee from North Korea. In the hallowed meeting rooms of the United Nations in New York, ambassadors from North Korea recently sought to shout down stories like this. But these voices will not be silenced. Eventually freedom will be restored. History will vindicate Hyeonseo Lee and those like her for the risks they ran so that their bodies and their minds could be free. And so that we could know the truth." (Michael Kirby, chair of the UN commission on human rights abuses in North Korea)

"When I first met Hyeonseo Lee, the unflinching manner in which she told her story was inspirational. She experienced hunger, coldness, fear, terror, threats and pursuit. All this she had to endure, simply for being a North Korean refugee. But the one thing that she held on to was her humanity, ever stronger as she continuously sublimated her hardships into hope. This is a sad and beautiful story of a girl who could not even keep her name, yet overcome all with the identity of what it is to be human." (Jang Jin-sung, author of Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea)

A Must Read

i learned so much and encourage all to read this account of the transition from being a citizen of North Korea to one of the free world.

courageous.

l oved it. it kept my interest. certain chapters I listened for detail twice .

Heart Warming Story

I just couldn't stop listening. As I listened,
it was as if I were there myself. I could feel the pain of what people go through living under autocratic regimes. I felt the heroism and the tension, the anxiety and the fear, and the overwhelming relief of freedom at last. If this book is not yet a movie, I expect that it will be soon.

Inspirational story

Amazing story of courage and resilience! One of my new favorite books! it's always amazing to me to hear others life story and how it shapes the person they are. Very inspiring!

fascinating!

The Author's account of her life and journey to freedom along side her changing identity had a solid ring of truth. After reading it I feel I have some understanding of life in North Korea.