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

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

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

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

By: Hyeonseo Lee, David John
Narrated by: Josie Dunn
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 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 Asia Cultural & Regional Freedom & Security Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government World Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Inspiring

Listeners also enjoyed...

 A River in Darkness cover art
While Time Remains cover art
The Story of My Life cover art
Trapped in Iran cover art
Finding Home cover art
Without You, There Is No Us cover art
The Hard Road Out cover art
North Korea Confidential cover art
Lunch with Charlotte cover art
In the Wars cover art
Seven Years in Tibet cover art
Call Me American cover art
In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer cover art
The Real North Korea cover art
See You Again in Pyongyang cover art
Assata cover art

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)
All stars
Most relevant
fascinating book about a world and story unknown to most of us. was a lack of emotional expression in the narrators voice but I persevered anyway

fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the quickest I have gotten through an Audiobook! Hyeonseo’s story is an amazing insight into life in N Korea. I’ve been interested in the country for a long time and this story really opened my eyes to the realities of life there, it gave life and voice to North Korean people. I found Hyeonseo’s story to be inspirational, you become truly invested in her life, her families lives, and their stories. I would recommend to anyone

Incredible story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
what a story and what an incredible young woman Hyeonseo Lee is. Highly recommend this book.

Great Listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing story. Everyone should listen to this. A very brave individual who deserves much respect.

Brilliant book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely fascinating insight in to life in North Korea and at the same time a really easy read/listen.

Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you listen to The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story again? Why?

I would listen again, if I had time to re-listen, as this was a complicated story and a second hearing might bring out things I'd missed.

Who was your favorite character and why?

She of the seven names! She is the pivotal, first-person character.

Which character – as performed by Josie Dunn – was your favourite?

Hyeonseo. The accent sounded very genuine.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It has good-byes that you hope never to experience. Life in North Korea seems shocking to a Westerner.

Any additional comments?

This book was recommended to me and not the kind of book I usually choose. I was glad to have listened to it as it is a true story and an eye-opener into the way of life in North Korea.

What a life!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've often wondered what it must be like for the people of North Korea, after seeing coverage on TV of mass performances, marches, hysteria and weeping - alongside stories of what seemed to be a complete and utter lack of human rights for anyone other than those at the very top. I have to admit that I also wondered whether North Koreans' apparent love for their Leader was genuine (and if so why) - or if they were simply too afraid to show their real feelings. Hyeonseo Lee's book answered all those questions, and many more that hadn't even occurred to me before. I just couldn't stop listening, and was alternately amazed, shocked, uplifted, fascinated, horrified and full of awe throughout her story - which documents her childhood in North Korea, her pretty much accidental defection to China, and her incredible struggle to survive thereafter. It's an incredible story of oppression, fight for survival, widespread corruption and bribery, occasional kindness of strangers, and long struggle to help her mother and brother escape from North Korea too. Hyeonseo Lee is one courageous, tenacious and intelligent lady, and I am full of admiration for her and her story - beautifully narrated by Josie Dunn. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone!

Absolutely fascinating book/audiobook

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I absolutely loved everything about this book! The story, the narrator and the production.
I will not ruin the story for you! I will just say: if you love biographies like me, stories of survival and defiance, this book is for you.

A must read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Incredible book. So interesting and it really made me think differently. An absolute must read.

Eye Opening. Fantastically well written!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I often find it hard to stick out an audible book because of the narrator this one I thought was very well read and an engaging story journal

Great journal and very well read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews