A Dream of Lights (25 page)

Huge thanks are long overdue to my wonderful agent, Carolyn Whitaker, and my brilliant editor, Nick Lake, for all their support, encouragement, understanding and patience and… well, everything really. Thanks also to my friend Rebecca Mascull, for the long chats over the piano or in the hallway, for really understanding and for that shared realisation that ‘hey, we’re not like those deluded contestants after all’ – you know what I mean! Thanks to my friend (and ex-nurse) Jackie Hall, for all the advice, information and chats about nutrition and pregnancy while we skated, or ran, or cycled, and to my Auntie Janet, for helping me with those darn worms and insects! Of course, thanks must go to my long suffering husband, Russ, who never seems to tire of having pieces of paper thrust into his hands, with the accompanying words – ‘just read this and tell me what you think’ – and to my children, Jess, Dan and Bowen for putting up with me being slightly grumpy sometimes, and often distracted.

Researching North Korea (or Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, as it’s also known) was both inspiring and heartbreaking.

A closed country, it has strict controls on media, visitors and journalists, and so while there was information to be found, some specifics were difficult to prove. For this reason, rather than base the town where Yoora finds her mother on one in particular, I decided to base it on a few northern towns mixed together, hence the name
Chongyong
is a prefix from one town and a suffix from another. I believe also that the traffic wardens mentioned here may only be found in the capital, Pyongyang, but decided against excluding them as the absurdity of the image was so powerful.

While Yoora’s story is fiction, it has its basis in fact and in research. The scene of her father’s execution was based on a video clip smuggled out of the country, as was the description of the market in the northern town, and parts of her journey on top of the train.

There are somewhere between twenty-one and twenty-six prison camps in North Korea. Yoora’s shares most with Camp 22, located in the north. It is roughly the size of Los Angeles and holds approximately 50,000 prisoners of every age. I’d like to say that the story of what happens to babies in these camps is made up, but unfortunately it isn’t.

Researching and writing this has taught me a lot about the strength of the human spirit, and how we are capable of far more than we often think. I’ve been saddened by people’s stories yet inspired by their determination. As such, I’d like to acknowledge the bravery of those who have managed to escape the prisons or the country, I hope I’ve done you justice, and thank those who have taken photos, or videos, or written accounts and enabled myself, and hopefully you the reader, to understand this country and its people a bit more.

“
What do I want for my future?

Is it survival?

No. I don’t want to survive.

I want to live…
”

A Brighter Fear
is the story of Lina,

a teenage girl growing up in Baghdad.

It starts in 2003, as bombs begin to fall on the city.

It is many things:

It is a love story, for a country and for a person. It is the coming-of-age story of an amazing girl, growing up in the worst circumstances imaginable. It contains a necklace, that was lost but might still be found, and it will break your heart, only to put it back together again…

Copyright

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Children’s Books
in 2013

HarperCollins
Children’s Books
is a division of HarperCollins
Publishers
Ltd,

77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London, W6 8JB.

Visit us on the web at

www.harpercollins.co.uk

1

Copyright © Kerry Drewery 2013

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Kerry Drewery asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

ISBN: 978-0-00-744659-9

Epub Edition © JANUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780007446605

Epub Version 1