No Space For Love - Story based in China, North Korea, S.E. Asia, & U.S.
"In North Korea, they leave you no space for love. I don't know love - is it a bowl of rice?"
Seng-il Park
Ha-na and Seng-il each endure despair-filled lives of starvation and violence under the oppressive regime of North Korea, but their hope can't be extinguished as they search for a better life and discover what it means to love.
Fifteen-year-old Ha-na longs for her father's love and hopes their escape from North Korea in the late 1990s will mean an end to hunger and hardship. Her hope for a better life in China is destroyed when her father sells the young teen into a marriage where she is subjected to abuse both day and night. With a newborn baby to protect, Ha-na must escape their abusers if she is to have any hope of forging a new path for them both.
All seventeen-year-old Seng-il has ever known is hunger. Forced to flee the famine devastating Kim Jong-il's North Korean regime at the start of the new millennium, he crosses the Chinese border. But he soon realizes that this new world has its own dangers. Discovered and returned to his homeland, Seng-il is imprisoned, starved, and beaten to the brink of death, but his drive to escape the horrors of his country never dies. Risking certain death if he is captured again, Seng-il crosses the border once more into the unknown.
As the two refugees walk different paths that each hope will lead to freedom, will their journeys end in deportation back to their unforgiving homeland? Or can they survive the harsh and brutal world of a second-class citizen to discover their own identity and begin a normal life?
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT "NO SPACE FOR LOVE"
"Its resounding survey of social classes, the harsh realities of life in North Korea and in China, and its inspection of survival and recovery create many eye-opening moments that make the story hard to put down and thought-provoking long after the final page is read." —Midwest Book Reviews
"While based on true events, NO SPACE FOR LOVE" is a thought-provoking work of Asian American fiction and a memorable read. Readers will experience the profound journey of these two teenagers, witness their powerful friendships, and see how these kids realize that they need more than food; they need to be free from oppression to thrive." —Literary Titan
READ "NO SPACE FOR LOVE" IF:
- You have an interest in North Korean or Chinese cultures.
- If you've ever wondered what immigrants face when they leave their countries and enter the U.S.
- You wonder how other countries treat immigrants and if it is different from the way we treat our immigrants.
- You are a risk taker or if you enjoy reading about the risks others have taken to immigrate to the U.S.
- You are in the mood for a good, inspirational, uplifting story based on true events.