First published 1969
A Korean soldier sits in his prison cell, cut off from the world he once knew. The war has taken everything from him except his life, and even that hangs by a thread. Days blur into nights as he confronts the harsh realities of captivity, watching fellow prisoners struggle with despair and brutality. The man who entered this place had little use for God or prayer. But isolation strips away his defenses, forcing him to examine beliefs he had long abandoned. Other prisoners speak of faith, some clinging to it desperately, others rejecting it entirely. He finds himself caught between doubt and hope, between the cynicism that kept him alive as a soldier and something deeper calling to him from within. Through small acts of kindness and moments of unexpected grace, he begins to understand what it means to believe again. His journey becomes not just about physical survival, but about recovering a spiritual core he thought the war had destroyed forever.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, asian-american
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: redemption, spiritual-journey
Setting: Korea
Period: 20th-century
384 pages · Unknown Binding · Hutchinson
Content warnings: violence, war