Star of the North by D. B. John

A propulsive and ambitious thriller about a woman trying to rescue her twin sister from captivity in North Korea, and the North Korean citizens with whom she forms an unlikely alliance.

Star of the North opens in 1988, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twenty-two years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her - including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed.

As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways, ultimately building to an explosive and unforgettable climax.

402 pages. (May 2018)

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13 Book Club Questions to Energize Any Meetup from Bustle

 

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"My North Korea bucket list trip" by D. B. John at salon

 

Chevy Stevens (author of Still Missing) reviews Star of the North:

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Title Read-alikes: A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church; How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleischmann; The Accusation by Bandi; Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews; The Swimmer by Joakim Zander; The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer; The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva; The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim; A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer; D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber; and Nightfall Berlin by Jack Grimwood.

All Other Nights by Dara Horn

How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, it is a question his commanders have already answered for him -- on Passover, 1862, he is ordered to murder his own uncle in New Orleans, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln. After this harrowing mission, Jacob is recruited to pursue another enemy agent, the daughter of a Virginia family friend. But this time, his assignment isn’t to murder the spy, but to marry her. Their marriage, with its riveting and horrifying consequences, reveals the deep divisions that still haunt American life today.

Based on real personalities like Judah Benjamin, the Confederacy’s Jewish Secretary of State and spymaster, and on historical facts and events ranging from an African-American spy network to the dramatic self-destruction of the city of Richmond, All Other Nights is a gripping and suspenseful story of men and women driven to the extreme limits of loyalty and betrayal. It is also a brilliant parable of the rift in America that lingers a century and a half later: between those who value family and tradition first, and those dedicated, at any cost, to social and racial justice for all.

In this eagerly-awaited third novel, award-winning author Dara Horn brings us page-turning storytelling at its best. Layered with meaning, All Other Nights presents the most American of subjects with originality and insight -- and the possibility of reconciliation that might yet await us.                

363 pages (April 2009)

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Book Page at BookBrowse.

Reading Guide from BookMovement.

 

13 Book Club Questions to Energize Any Meetup from Bustle

 

To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)

 

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Author Website

Dara Horn on how she underestimated her audience (StroumJewishStudies):

This title is available for download as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: Secessia by Kent Wascom; Rebel by Bernard Cornwell; On Secret Service by John Jakes; My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira; Sisters of Shiloh by Kathy Hepinstall; Neverhome by Laird Hunt; The March by E. L. Doctorow; I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe; The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran; The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer; Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant; If All the Seas Were Ink by Ilana Kurshan; and The Book of Separation: a memoir by Tova Mirvis.