In the Tunnel

by Julie Lee

Overview

Trapped in an enemy tunnel, a young refugee experiences the Korean War firsthand in this searing story of survival, loss, and hope, a companion to the Freeman Award-winning novel Brother’s Keeper.

Myung-gi knows war is coming: War between North and South Korea. Life in communist North Korea has become more and more unbearable—there is no freedom of speech, movement, association, or thought—and his parents have been carefully planning the family’s escape.

But when his father is abducted by the secret police, all those plans fall apart. How can Myung-gi leave North Korea without his dad? Especially when he believes that the abduction was his fault?

Set during a cataclysmic war which shaped the world we know today, this is the story of one boy’s coming-of-age during a time when inhumanity, lawlessness, and terror reigned supreme. Myung-gi, his mother, and his twelve-year-old sister Yoomee do everything they can to protect one another. But gentle, quiet, bookish Myung-gi has plans to find his father at any cost—even if it means joining the army and being sent to the front lines, where his deepest fears await him.

A Bank Street Best Book of the Year - Outstanding Merit
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A Book Riot Best New Book of 2023

"An absolute must-read."—Booklist, starred review
"Vivid, powerful."—School Library Journal
"Moving."—Publishers Weekly
"Searing. . . . Beautifully written."—Book Riot

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823450398
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	05/30/2023
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	495,956
Product dimensions:	5.82(w) x 8.53(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Julie Lee, a marketer-turned-writer, lives in an Atlanta suburb with her three children and her husband. A first-generation American, her mother escaped North Korea during the Korean War and later immigrated to the United States. Julie studied history at Cornell before working in advertising in Manhattan, eventually relocating to the South.

Editorial Reviews

04/10/2023

This moving historical novel from Lee (Brother’s Keeper) opens in October 1952, centering bookish Myung-gi, who has joined the South Korean army in order to find his Ahpa. After an explosion traps 16-year-old Myung-gi in an enemy tunnel at the North-South Korean border, alternating chapters trace both his present awaiting death in the tunnel and past experiences beginning in 1945. Emotional third-person narration recounts Myung-gi’s family’s reaction to historical events, including the feeling of freedom at the end of Japan’s imperial rule and rising tensions between Soviet-occupied northern Korea, where the family lives, and U.S.-occupied southern Korea. Ahpa’s criticism of the occupying governments, his smuggling in Western books for Myung-gi, and his previous role as a factory owner necessitates the family’s departure from their home to Busan. Myung-gi’s father is taken by the Red Army before the family can execute their planned escape, however, and Myung-gi, younger sister Yoomee, and their Uhma must make a harrowing journey south to Busan alone, to avoid Myung-gi’s recruitment. Interspersed between harrowing scenes of travel and remembrances of Myung-gi’s father are the youth’s thoughtful ruminations on the human cost of war. Lee compassionately depicts the difficult journey and Myung-gi’s grappling with finding normalcy in this well-paced story about an underreported war. Ages 8–12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (May)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2023

Gr 5 Up—Set in the 1950s, Lee's latest novel offers readers a glimpse of the brutal personal impacts of the Korean War. Myung-gi is 16—too young to go to war, and yet he's carrying a rifle, fighting in a conflict that's tearing families apart all across the country. He shouldn't be there at all. He loves books and reading, the sound of language flowing off the page, but he's come to the 38th parallel to find his father, Ahpa, who was taken by the secret police. This vivid, powerful title uses Myung-gi's story to give readers a firsthand glimpse of the political and military turmoil in mid—20th-century Korea. The book vividly captures the disorientation and longing of a young man who finds himself cut off from his home, his family, and his dreams for the future. Through flashbacks, Lee shows how her characters reassemble the pieces of their lives to create a new, more hopeful story. VERDICT This companion novel to Brother's Keeper is recommended for readers of historical fiction—particularly fiction that deals with themes of war, trauma, and disconnection.—Talea Anderson

School Library Journal

★ 2023-02-25
A South Korean boy longs to rescue his father imprisoned in North Korea.

It’s 1952, and 16-year-old Myung-gi has joined the South Korean army in hopes of finding Ahpa, who was taken by North Korean soldiers two years prior. He’s trapped in a tunnel at the North-South Korean border, and as he waits for what seems like inevitable death, flashbacks transport him to the events that led to this moment. He recalls his family’s joy when Korea was liberated from Japanese imperial rule in 1945—and their despair as American and Soviet troops moved in and divided up the peninsula. His family ended up on the communist side. Myung-gi’s father smuggled in Western books for him to read and committed other quiet acts of resistance before he was taken. His mother reminds him and his younger sister of his father’s wish should he be arrested: They must undertake the dangerous journey hundreds of miles south to Busan, South Korea, and await him there. The family encounters numerous horrors along the way. Myung-gi’s PTSD—in which nothing feels real and all that is familiar is rendered strange—rings entirely true, as does his prolonged grief over losing his father. Nuanced details about the immediate aftermath of World War II in northern Korea, with fraying political alliances, growing tensions among formerly friendly neighbors, and welcome pockets of ordinary life, shed much-needed light on this time in history.

A gripping story about family, war, mourning, and resilience told with emotion and heart. (Historical fiction. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews

★ "A gripping story about family, war, mourning, and resilience told with emotion and heart."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ "Once again, Lee brings readers to the beginnings of the North Korean Communist regime. Myung-gi is an intriguing main character. . . . This is an absolute must-read for those who have already read Brother’s Keeper and a heart-wrenching meditation on family bonds and the responsibilities they entail."—Booklist, Starred Review
 
"Lee’s vivid, visceral writing provides readers with an unflinching story of war and survival as well as an intimate look at everyday life for Koreans caught up in geo-political forces over which they have no control. Few books for young readers grapple with the Korean War from this perspective. . . ."—The Horn Book

"[A] vivid, powerful title. . . . The book vividly captures the disorientation and longing of a young man who finds himself cut off from his home, his family, and his dreams for the future."—School Library Journal

"[A] moving historical novel. . . . Lee compassionately depicts the difficult journey and Myung-gi’s grappling with finding normalcy in this well-paced story about an underreported war."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher