Alana Terry on The Beloved Daughter
Unfortunately, I don’t often feel like news stories leave me with enough of a “big picture” to understand what’s really taking place around the globe.
My solution may sound a little ironic at first; I delve into fiction.
Over the past ten years, I've found that a good novel can teach me more about a country, a people group, or a historical event than I could glean from reading nonfiction.
Several summers ago, when fighting in Syria was so severe, I picked up a novel written by a Syrian national. I learned more from those 300 pages about the Syrian people and their centuries of conflicts than I ever could have gathered from online news sources. And I enjoyed a great story to boot.
Some readers pick up a work of historical fiction and end up grateful that they learned something about the past. My method is somewhat backwards. If I want to know more about a country or a time period, I seek out fiction from or about that era in order to understand it better.
Several years ago, I started writing a novel set in North Korea. It begins with the horrible famine in the 1990s, where a young girl and her family are struggling to survive from day to day. The story follows the protagonist into her adulthood and into contemporary history. The Beloved Daughter doesn’t explain the nuclear program in North Korea. It doesn't relate the (unsuccessful) history of UN sanctions and impositions. It doesn't give you the name of Kim Il-Jung’s wife/partner/whatever she is. But I hope it does give readers a glimpse into the lives of the North Korean people.
You can’t look at the news without seeing North Korea in big flashing letters. But a news story about (another) threatened missile launch doesn't tell you what it’s like to grow up in a North Korean village where people are starving but might get shot for stealing a potato. It doesn't tell you about the fear everyday North Koreans face in this totalitarian regime.
If you want to learn more about a particular place or event, why not log off CNN, put down that newspaper, and pick up a novel?
About the Book:
In a small North Korean village, a young girl struggles to survive. Catastrophic floods have ravaged her countryside. But it is her father’s faith, not the famine of North Hamyong Province, that most threatens Chung-Cha’s well-being.
Is Chung-Cha’s father right to be such a vocal believer? Or is he a fool to bring danger on the head of his only daughter?
Chung-Cha is only a girl of twelve and is too young to answer such questions. Yet she is not too young to face a life of imprisonment and forced labor. Her crime? Being the daughter of a political dissident.
“The Beloved Daughter” follows Chung-Cha into one of the most notorious prison camps of the contemporary free world. Will Chung-Cha survive the horrors of Camp 22?
And if she does survive, will her faith remain intact?
“The Beloved Daughter” won second place in the 2012 Women of Faith Writing Contest.
Purchase Your Copy:
About the Author:
Alana Terry is a homeschooling mother of three. “The Beloved Daughter” is her debut Christian novel and won second place in the Women of Faith writing contest. Alana is also the author of “A Boy Named Silas,” the story of her son’s complicated medical history and “What, No Sushi?” a children’s chapter book about the Japanese-American internment.
Visit her website at www.alanaterry.com or connect with her on
Twitter at www.twitter.com/aboynamedsilas.
Tour Schedule
Monday, May 6 - Book Featured at Examiner
Tuesday, May 7 - First Chapter Reveal at The Writer’s Life
Wednesday, May 8 – Interview at Straight From the Author’s Mouth
Thursday, May 9 – Interview at Review From Here
Tuesday, May 14 - Guest Blogging at The Paperback Pursuer
Wednesday, May 15 – First Chapter Review at Beyond the Books
Thursday, May 16 – Interview at The Dark Phantom
Friday, May 17 – Character Guest Post at As the Pages Turn
Monday, May 20 – Interview at Pump Up Your Book
Tuesday, May 21 – Interview at Literarily Speaking
Wednesday, May 22 – Book Trailer Reveal & Book Giveaway at Wanted Readers
Thursdsay, May 23 – Guest Blogging at The Story Behind the Book
Friday, May 24 - Book Review & Guest Blogging at The Book Barista
Sunday, May 26 – Book Review at Create With Joy
Monday, May 27 – Interview at The Writer’s Life
Tuesday, May 28 – Interview at Blogcritics
Friday, May 31 – Interview at Between the Covers
Monday, June 3 - Interview at Examiner
Tuesday, June 4 – Book Trailer Reveal at Bookworm Lisa
Wednesday, June 5 – Guest Blogging at The Book Fairy Reviews
Thursday, June 6 – Interview at Books Books the Magical Fruit
Friday, June 7 – Book Review at Seasons of Opportunities
Monday, June 10 – Book Review & Book Giveaway at Deco My Heart
Tuesday, June 11 – Book Review at Gina’s Library
Wednesday, June 12 – Guest Blogging at Literal Exposure
Thursday, June 13 – Interview at Book Marketing Buzz
Friday, June 14 – Book Trailer of the Week at Pump Up Your Book
Monday, June 17 – First Chapter Reveal at Margay Leah Justice
Tuesday, June 18 – Guest Blogging at Literarily Speaking
Wednesday, June 19 – Book Review at A Peek at My Bookshelf
Friday, June 21 – Interview at Beyond the Books
Monday, June 24 – Interview at You Gotta Read
Friday, June 28 – Book Trailer Reveal at If Books Could Talk
Monday, July 1 – Guest Blogging & Book Giveaway at Tina’s Book Reviews
Tuesday, July 2 – Book Featured at SheWrites
Wednesday, July 3 – First Chapter Reveal at Read My First Chapter
Friday, July 5 – Interview at Digital Journal
Monday, July 8 – Guest Blogging at Hezzie-D’s Books and Cooks
Tuesday, July 9 – Interview at Blogger News
Wednesday, July 10 – First Chapter Reveal at Bookin’ Around
Thursday, July 11 – Book Featured at Plug Your Book
Friday, July 12 – Guest Blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner
Monday, July 15 – Interview at My Devotional Thoughts
Tuesday, July 16 – Book Review at My Devotional Thoughts
Wednesday, July 17 - Book Review at My Cozie Corner
Friday, July 19 – First Chapter Reveal at Parenting 2.0
Monday, July 22 – Book Review at A Well Watered Garden
Wednesday, July 24 – Book Featured at Authors & Readers Book Corner
Friday, July 26 – Interview at American Chronicle
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