All Woman and Springtime

“A gripping novel” of two North Korean teenage girls, and their harrowing journey as they escape the authoritarian state (O, The Oprah Magazine).

Before she met Il-sun in an orphanage, Gi was a hollow husk of a girl, broken from growing up in one of North Korea’s forced-labor camps. A mathematical genius, she learned to cope with pain by retreating into a realm of numbers and calculations. Gi becomes enamored with the brash and radiant Il-sun, a friend she describes as “all woman and springtime.”

But Il-sun’s pursuit of a better life imperils both girls when her suitor spirits them across the Demilitarized Zone and sells them as sex workers, first in South Korea and then in the United States. This riveting novel of oppression, female friendship, and the will to survive, is “guaranteed to appeal to fans of Memoirs of a Geisha and the novels of Lisa See” (Booklist).

“Vividly depict[s] the harsh, terrible circumstances and also believably gives hope that the individualist spark can sometimes carry us through to better things.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“[A] moving, heartbreaking, yet hopeful novel . . . This important story exposes startling acts of human cruelty and uncovers the amazing resiliency of the human being, mind and body.” —Salt Lake City Weekly

“One of the most absorbing, chilling, beautifully written, and important novels I’ve read in many years.” —Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple