The story follows a young girl's journey from an oppressive life in North Korea to her eventual freedom in China. Jia is a young girl living in poverty with her grandparents and older sister in the mountains of North Korea. Jia's village is small and most of the people work at a prison camp nearby, shoveling coal. One evening, a South Korean soldier arrives at Jia's family home, hungry and exhausted. The family lets him in, though they are understandably wary, and he tells them his story; how he is on his way back to the North Korean army unit he was forced to join. The soldier and Jia's grandparents spend the next couple weeks becoming acquainted and conspiring. On the evening, the soldier must head out with his army unit, Jia's grandparents ask him to take their youngest granddaughter with him so that she might be able to go to school in town. Thus begins Jia's long journey. Once in town, she is left at an orphanage in the town of Pyongyang where the teachers there, see her potential as a dancer. As she grows and becomes more practiced in the art of dance, she is able to get a job in an upscale hotel as a maid and part-time background dancer during shows. This position leads her to find a love interest in an uptight young soldier names Seunggyu and a best friend in her young neighbor Sun. After revealing her poor background to Seunggyu and after Sun runs away to find her missing lover, Jia decides it is time for her to leave Pyongyang as well. She obtains fake travel papers and heads for the far away city Onsong. Along the way she is taken in by a group of people who are trying to cross the border into China. Jia decides to join them as she feels she could have a chance at a better life. The crossing is hard however, and Jia is captured at the border and taken to a karaoke bar where she is forced to sell her body. Fortunately, she is bought by a kindly Half-Korean Half Japanese business man who takes her to his home, feeds her and pays for her to learn Chinese and does not ask for anything in return. Through the kindness of this stranger, Jia is able to finally to begin to rebuild her life.
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Best part of story, including ending:
I really enjoyed this story because it helped me understand the tragedy of North Korea through the eyes of someone living in the country. Jia's story was interesting and I found myself rooting for her to find her way.
Best scene in story:
My favorite seen is towards the end of the story when Jin, Jia's kindly businessman, takes her to his home and cooks for the two of them. When Jia demands to know why he saved her in the first place, he explains that he just felt like he had an opportunity to do good and so bought her.
Opinion about the main character:
I really liked Jia. I liked that she never forgot her background and not only did that make her strong enough to survive all of the trials she had to endure but it did not harden her heart either. She remained compassionate towards others and was still able to tell right from wrong.
