Before she met Il-sun at the orphanage, Gi was a hollow husk of a girl, broken from having grown 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, an escape from both the past and the present. Gi becomes enamored of the brash and radiant Il-sun, but her friend’s pursuit of a better life imperils both girls when Il-sun’s suitor spirits them across the Demilitarized Zone and sells them as sex workers, first in South Korea and then in the United States.
This impressive debut depicts—with chilling accuracy—the harsh life behind North Korea’s iron curtain. But for Gi and Il-sun, forced into the underworld of human trafficking, their captivity outside North Korea is far crueler. In the face of mounting injustice, it’s Gi and Il-sun’s extraordinary resilience that gives this spellbinding story its power. All Woman and Springtime takes us into the dark heart of the most mysterious country on earth as it weaves a heartbreaking, breathtaking story.

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