Author: Lee Hyeon-seo

Lee crossed the frozen Yalu River out of North Korea at seventeen, meaning to visit relatives in China for a few days, and could not go back. She spent a decade in China avoiding repatriation, learning Mandarin well enough to pass as Chinese, and eventually reached Seoul, where she was interrogated as a possible spy. She then went back to the border to bring her mother and brother out through Laos, where they were arrested, and got them released. The Girl with Seven Names takes its title from the identities she used along the way. She speaks publicly about the country she left.