The audiobook version of Alana's bestselling debut novel is narrated by Kathy Garver, a four-time Audie award winner and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the Motion Picture Council. (You might also recognize Kathy as Cissy from the TV show Family Affair.)
Listen to a sample of the audiobook at this link http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/The-Beloved-Daughter-Audiobook/B00FY50Z6K/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1383156756&sr=1-1
Or buy the e-book at this link : http://amzn.to/10bLi5l or the paperback here http://smarturl.it/tbd
The guards who took her interrogate them both.
Chung Cha’s mother denies Christ.
Chung Cha’s father does not.
Because he doesn’t, Chung Cha is tortured so that her father will finally give in and deny Christ so that he can save her.
Chung Cha thinks, day after day of torturing, that he never will.
But one day she is told that her father has denied Christ and hung himself in his cell.
She and her mother are then transferred to Camp 22.
An evil, depraved place where Chung Cha has to grow up fast.
Almost a decade later, Chung Cha is falsely accused and sent to a prison.
There she meets the Old Woman.
There the seeds of her faith are replanted.
But when the Old Woman dies…what will happen?
The Beloved Daughter is a realistic first person retelling of the life of one girl who experienced horrible, unspeakable things because of a corrupt government, and the immorality that that government so encouraged. This novel puts a whole new perspective on faith. It’s easy, here in America, to believe in Christ. Because nobody is telling you that you can’t.
But in North Korea either you either deny Christ, or you are tortured and put to death. Not to mention the ones you love.
I couldn't help but wonder what I would do if I was put in Chung Cha’s position.
The utter wickedness and spiritual darkness this novel reveals about North Korea is overwhelming. Chung Cha is just one victim out of thousands. Alana Terry did an excellent job on research and making this novel heartbreakingly realistic.
Chung Cha was a character who was made strong by many trials. My favorite character, however, was the Old Woman. She certainly lived the verse “the joy of the Lord is my strength”. I was surprised when I discovered that The Beloved Daughter has some allegorical qualities. Each name of every character has a meaning that somehow relates to the circumstances of that part of the novel.
Alana Terry has a beautiful and faith-filled writing voice. For instance, “Our soul’s yearnings remind us that heaven is our true home…It is only there that we will ever find real and lasting freedom.”
The Old Woman was talking to Chung Cha when she was saying this. There were several other places in the novel that I marked because of the lovely words that can apply to life.
(spoiler alert) I was confused in one part near the end of the novel. The story reveals that Chung Cha’s father actually died earlier than Chung Cha thought. Before she was tortured, even. I thought that was strange. If Chung Cha’s father was dead before she was tortured then why was she tortured at all? The book suggests that perhaps it was the guards’ intent to destroy her faith entirely.
But I just don’t think it adds up.
There are many wild twists and turns in The Beloved Daughter. Something was always happening, so I was never bored with it. Each chapter all the way down to the last one ended with a note of suspense. First I thought somebody was dead only to find that he was really alive. Then somebody else was dead but…no, wait. He’s alive, too!
I liked the unpredictability of the novel. It held my attention extremely well.
Another favorite character of mine was Moses. He turned out to be somebody quite unexpected. I really liked him though it seemed like he had to compromise his faith in order to be who he was. I hope that Alana Terry’s next book has more to do with him. He seemed like an extremely complex character.
All in all I give The Beloved Daughter 41/2 out of 5 stars.
*The author provided me with an e-book copy of The Beloved Daughter
You can enter a $100 giveaway to Amazon or Target (you choose) hosted by Alana Terry. Second Prize: Choose from the Prize Gallery (facebook.com/alanaterrywrites)
Follow this link to the giveaway http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f0028f6/