Too often we’re used to thinking of North Korea as the ‘other,’ but it demonstrated how North Korean people are just like us – only suffering at the hands of an oppressive, criminal government. She talked about heading down to the river to play with the other children after school, and how they’d carry her into the water because she was too scared to swim. Between the accounts of huddling up to the fire in the dark in winter because there was no electricity, digging up any food they could find in the hills because they were so hungry, and people disappearing without a trace when they fell on the wrong side of the government, she talked about the happy memories she shared with her sister, and times when things weren’t so bad for their family. I started this book expecting it to focus predominantly on her escape, but I enjoyed reading about her childhood, and I appreciated her talking about the positive as well as negative facets of life in the Hermit Kingdom. I was surprised by how much detail there was about her life in North Korea. It’s a book about life in, and escape from, North Korea – and Yeonmi set out determined to tell every part of her story. Before I start, I need to say: this book contains references to sexual, verbal and physical assault, and covers distressing events and potentially dark topics.

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park