The Beloved Daughter by Alana Terry

Title: The Beloved Daughter

Author: Alana Terry

Pages: 230

Year: 2013

Note: I received a free copy of this book through The Book Club Network in exchange for my honest opinion.

     Chung-Cha (Righteous Daughter) is taken captive when her father is arrested for his faith in Christ. Her father’s declaration is, “Chung-Cha belongs to Christ, even if you destroy me, God will still watch over my daughter.” So begins her path of persecution, despair, suffering, and glory. Some of the aspects of her captivity include physical and sexual abuse. There are no explicit descriptions or profanity given though.

     This book is set in North Korea and begins in 1998. The horrors that it recounts are things that I have never thought about. I’ve heard the statement that believers are persecuted in a many different countries, yet in my sheltered existence I’ve never tried to picture what that would really be like.

     Alana Terry has taken great pains to tell a first person account of these horrors. I can’t even begin to imagine the time and heartache she had to put into researching a country that I know so little about. Her account is very vivid and heart-wrenching.

     A part of me wanted to only give this book 4 stars because of the type of story it is. Yet the writing is so well done that I realized that would not be giving Alana the credit she so richly deserves for the work that she put into creating such a well thought out story. Therefore I find that I must give another book a 5 star rating.