The Beloved Daughter by Alana Terry [ book review ]

The Beloved Daughter by Alana Terry


Buy here.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Note: tortuous scenes, some violence, hints at immorality ( made to look bad ), and other vile behaviors all of which is necessary for the plot and not overdone for reader's benefit.



Back Cover:

Persecution. Despair. Suffering. Glory.

"Chung-Cha belongs to Christ," Father declared. "Even if you destroy me, God will still watch over my daughter."

The agent chuckled.

"And what if I destroy her?"


My review:

Song Cnung-Cha is only 12 when her life is torn apart forever. Her father, a minister and Christian has been found out, and her whole family is separated and sent to a labor camp.

Angry at God and her father, Chung-Cha turns her back on religion altogether and accepts her ill-fate with resolution. She knows she can never escape, so she does what she can to survive and have the most comfort.

But the more she turns form God, the more he shows His presence to her - in horror and in goodness.

She witnesses many tragedies, suffers much torture and makes many friends, all if which will change her life in the end.

As things do change, Chung- Cha is given more chances than she deserves. But it isn't until she realizes that her whole life has been a lie when she finds true peace - and the way to find it.



My thoughts:

I won this book in a giveaway this fall, and just got to reading it recently. Was it ever worth it!

With all that is going on in North Korea I figured this would be a very educational read. I was far from wrong. But it was still MORE than I expected.

Even though nothing is ever graphically described it does have a lot to it, and hints at quite a lot, so it may not be appropriate for younger readers. Still. I would let most younger children read it because it would open their eyes to what is going on in the world.

Though this book is fiction it is very powerful.

I must admit that when I first started this book I thought it might be rather boring. It seemed to be going nowhere, just jumping from one horror story to another, all focused around the same girl.

But when I read more, I realized the author's genius. It all connects at the end, and even the title is a mystery that you get hints at through out the story but don't actually understand until the end.

This book has many strong characters that all play strong and important roles, and it ends leaving you satisfied and wanting to do something about the people on North Korea.