Find True North by Richard R. Li | Excerpt

Hi guys,

Today I've got an excerpt from Richard R.Li's book Find True North for you all. Before jumping into the excerpt though, here's a little about the book and the author.

I feel an inconsolable longing… Set in current day North Korea, Find True North follows 16 year old Hwa Yunsang through a world where there is only one voice—that of the state. Individual thought and endeavor are looked upon with suspicion and fear. When Yunsang sees his mother handcuffed in a police car, he quickly learns that she is bound for the gulag and that his father turned her in. This betrayal launches him on a journey of past and present to find himself and to retain his integrity in a society where it has no value, and where love and loyalty are shunned at every turn. But there are opportunities for freedom, and truth is not impossible. For Yunsang, there is hope: Find True North.

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Richard Li loves meeting new people and trying new things. Despite many unsuccessful attempts to make new friends, he trudges on, regardless. His hobbies include piano, reading, Tae Kwon Do, hiking, skiing, soccer, Naruto, basketball, and wishing he wasn’t a teenaged hopeless romantic. He enjoys hanging out with friends, and traveling to places like Beijing, Taipei, Maui, and Hangzhou. His greatest hope in writing this book is to comfort, inspire, and help change the lives of his readers for the better. Find True North is his first book.

You can connect with the author on Facebook

Excerpt

I’m on a speeding train, cramped onto a cart with at least a hundred other people my age. We are herded like cattle. They are talking, laughing at each other’s jokes. Many even talk to people in the other carts. The chain of train carts stretches out endlessly in both directions. The Epitome of Life. I am the only one silent. I feel a deathly loneliness because no one understands me. I look out. Then an epiphany comes to me: no one knows where this train will take us, but they don’t care. They just keep talking and laughing, sleeping and eating. No one even asks. They will accept wherever it takes them.
The sun is setting. The forest around us grows dark and cold. No one would ever think of going into the unknown forest, even if the vast ocean lies beyond it. But I cannot accept this. A voice is calling me from far away. I jump off the train and fall to the ground. The train continues rushing past me and I run into the forest. I run to a place this train will never take me to, toward the setting sun and boundless ocean.