"Mr. Johnson has written a daring and remarkable novel, a novel that not only opens a frightening window on the mysterious kingdom of North Korea, but one that also excavates the very meaning of love and sacrifice." - Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "RIch with a sense of discovery...The year is young, but The Orphan Master’s Son has an early lead on novel of 2012." - The Daily Beast "This is a novel worth getting excited about." - The Washington Post "[A] ripping piece of fiction that is also an astute commentary on the nature of freedom, sacrifice, and glory." - Elle An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master’s Son follows a young man’s journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world’s most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea.

Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother—a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang—and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.

Considering himself “a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,” Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress “so pure, she didn’t know what starving people looked like.”

Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master’s Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. A towering literary achievement, The Orphan Master’s Son ushers Adam Johnson into the small group of today’s greatest writers.

亞當．強森(Adam Johnson)

史丹佛文學教授，在史丹佛大學開設創意寫作課程。曾在《君子》、《哈潑》、《花花公子》、《The Paris Review》、《Tin House》、《Granta》等報章雜誌上發表過短篇小說作品。他曾在2007年親訪北韓，在進入平壤之前，已經接觸過很多關於北韓的資料，包含大飢荒，集中營，脫北者的真實故事，引發他很大的好奇和欲望探索。獲准進入北韓之後，結合出色的想像力和傑出的文筆，和無數的考察和研究，寫出了這部以北韓為背景的傳奇小說。