In this gripping novel, Crystal Hana Kim unveils a dark episode in the history of South Korea and also illuminates the strength of the human spirit and the will of people to survive despite the grip of horrible oppression.

In May 1980, vagrants Eunju, a 15-year-old girl, and her mother are snatched off the street by police and sent to a state-sanctioned reformatory complex in the country. Eunju's mother is of mixed blood, Korean and American, making her an outcast even if they weren't homeless, and adding another burden in their captivity.

They are put to work in the kitchen, preparing meals for the boys in another section who work at making various products under the watchful eye of the Keepers -- boys wjp are elevated to the task when they reach the age of 17. Over them all is Teacher and the Warden, a man who preaches Christian virtue but rules with an iron hand. Those who break his rules risk detention in the Chapel, where they face punishment or may even disappear.

Eunju's independent nature makes it difficult for her to adjust or trust the others as she and her mother plot to escape. She does eventually befriend another girl, Mina, and her life becomes entwined with that of Sanchul and his brother Youngchul, two boys who were not homeless but were found on the street and accused of theft by the police who sent them to the Stone Home. Plans for a group escape fail. Only Eunju and Sanchul break out, but with consequences to be dealt with later in the story. I don't want to give away more.

It's important to remember the events in this story took place at a time when Koreans were under the rule of a brutal dictatorship and the nation was struggling to overcome the deprivation of a long and costly war. it was not the economic jewel of Asia it is today.

I was in South Korea in the 1960s when the country was under the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee. In the aftermath of the war, the streets of Seoul and other cities were thronged with beggars and the destitute -- crippled soldiers, people made homeless by the conflict, orphans -- as well as prostitutes and thieves, all struggling to survive. This novel opens in the 1980s, after the assassination of Park and the ascension of another dictator, Chun Doo-hwan. Chun is believed to have been responsible for the reformation facilities like the Stone Home. But, under his harsh regime, the country's economy began to thrive. Kim speculates the reformation camps were established to cleanse the city streets of vagrants in preparation for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. That may have played a role in it. I think it's equally likely it was designed to appeal to foreigners who were being enticed to invest in the country's development.

Though Chun was succeeded in 1988 by his close ally and South Korea's first democratically-elected president Roh Tae-woo, his government and later ones covered up the detention of innocents and the human rights violations endured. As Kim points out in an afterword, survivors are still awaiting a governmental apology and reparations they deserve.

[ visit Crystal Hana Kim online ]