Daughters of the Dragon: A Comfort Woman's Story

The Dragon #1

by William Andrews

During World War II, the Japanese forced 200,000 young Korean women to be sex slaves or “comfort women” for their soldiers. This is one woman’s riveting story of strength, courage and promises kept.

In 1943, the Japanese tear young Jae-hee and her sister from their peaceful family farm to be comfort women for the Imperial Army. Before they leave home, their mother gives them a magnificent antique comb with an ivory inlay of a two-headed dragon, saying it will protect them. The sisters suffer terribly at the hands of the Japanese, and by the end of the war, Jae-hee must flee while her sister lies dying. Jae-hee keeps her time as a comfort woman a secret while she struggles to rebuild her life. She meets a man in North Korea who shows her what true love is. But the communists take him away in the middle of the night, and she escapes to the South. There, she finally finds success as the country rebuilds after the Korean War. However when her terrible secret is revealed, she’s thrown into poverty. In the depths of despair, she’s tempted to sell the comb with the two-headed dragon that she believes has no magic for her. Then one day she discovers its true meaning and her surprising heredity. And now she must find the only person who can carry on the legacy of the two-headed dragon… someone she abandoned years ago.

Set within the tumultuous backdrop of 20th century Korea, Daughters of the Dragon by Mayhaven Award-winning author William Andrews will make you cry and cheer for Jae-hee. And in the end, you’ll have a better understanding of the Land of the Morning Calm.

Daughters of the Dragon is inspired by The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Memiors of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, the books of Amy Tan and Lisa See.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Asia, War, World War II

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2008

About the author

Bill Andrews has a strong connection to Korea – his daughter who arrived from the Land of the Morning Calm as a cheerful, smart, four-month-old. Since then, Bill has been fascinated by Korea.

For over 30 years, Bill was a copywriter and a marketing/brand executive with several Fortune 500 companies. For fifteen years, he ran his own advertising agency. At night and on weekends (and sometimes during the workday!) Bill wrote fiction. Bill’s first novel titled The Essential Truth won first place in the Mayhaven Contest for unpublished fiction. His second novel, The Dirty Truth, was published in winter 2015. As of Ye 2015, Daughters of the Dragon has sold over 50,000 copies and has a 4.8 out of 5.0 star rating from nearly 600 reviewers on Amazon.

Today, Bill is retired from the business world and focuses on his writing. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, an inner-city public school teacher for 32 years. And that smart, cheerful kid is now a medical doctor.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A part of history that needs to be taught to every student, just like the holocaust. Only apparently Japan does not acknowledge this horrific atrocity. The afterword of this book will forever be seared in my brain- 80 and 90 year old women victims march every Wed at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Trying to make sure the world knows what happened and with a list of demands for the Japanese Govt. I stand in solidarity with these courageous comfort women

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of the comfort women. This story opened my eyes to this dark part of Korean/Japanese history and pushed me to learn more. The story is so well told that I often forgot it was a novel. I couldn't put this book down and my thoughts always came back to the treatment of these women and how humans can justify such treatment of other humans. Loved this book for the truths in it.

[Jsiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for those who are unaware of the horrors that Korean women were subjugated to at the hands of the Japanese army... the Ja-hee parts were the strongest and the most captivating... the Anna parts and timeline were kinda like an afterthought and didn't seem plausible. The effort to make Anna sound like an American youth was awkward as well. After reading other reviews for the following books in this series....I read this weak frame story continues for the other stories as well, but the history shines strongly through. I love the effort that Andrews went to give dignity to these women and his protagonist.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Addendum to my review: The issue of comfort women continues to haunt South Korea to this day. Japan continues to try to skirt responsibility. From today's New York Times (12/27/17): "SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean government-appointed panel faulted on Wednesday a “final and irreversible” deal struck with Japan in 2015 to resolve a decades-old dispute over Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II" In the deal, "Japan expressed responsibility (subject to terms--Japan would not allow the women to be called "sexual slaves" only "victims of comfort stations") and made a new apology to the victims, promising an $8.3 million fund to help provide old-age care. In return, South Korea promised not to criticize Tokyo on the issue again." Only $8 million and a one time never to be mentioned again apology in repayment for years of horrific abuse, to be paid only to the few survivors of the up to 100,000 women forced into slavery during the war. Ridiculous terms. And Japan's apologetic and remorseful response: "In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Taro Kono warned that any attempt to revise the agreement would be “unacceptable” and would make the relationship between Japan and South Korea “unmanageable.”

The occupation of Korea by the Japanese during WW II was a national embarrassment. Comfort women were a particularly scandalous reminder, stigmatized and ostracized by Korean society until the 1990s. As a result, most comfort women who survived the war remained silent regrading their slavery. Many were excised from their families after the war, had difficulty finding work, and often not were allowed to marry. Only 238 have come forward since then 1990s seeking reparation, of whom only 36 are still alive.
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Winner of a 2014 Independent Publishers (PPY) award for historical fiction. Highly recommended for lovers of history and emotive women’s narratives. Those who cannot read stories featuring violence against women—in this case real events to a positive purpose—should avoid and skip the rest of this review.

Daughters of the Dragon is a compelling read that traces the story of a single woman through Korea’s history from 1940 to the present day, focusing on actions and response to the most despicable of war crimes, the forced enslavement of up to 100,000 Korean women—and an estimated 200,000 women in total across Asia—by the Japanese during World War II to “comfort” men of its armed forces. An action that to this day most Asian governments are ashamed to acknowledge, and that Japan—the perpetrator—disavows and has never been held to account.

Comfort woman are rarely discussed in Asia. These women were kidnapped or tricked into sexual enslavement by the Japanese throughout World War II, held in deplorable conditions, forced to “comfort” as many as 30 men a day, in some cases for years, and often beaten when failing to please their masters. Those who survived the war (many did not, dying of ill treatment, disease, suicide, or executed by Japanese soldiers fleeing defeat) found no welcome home. Their families, friends and governments, seeing them as a shameful reminder of Japanese subjugation, turned them away, treating them as outcasts. Most ended their lives in shame and poverty. The few remaining survivors are today in their 80s and 90s.

Daughters is well, tastefully and often lyrically written. At the same time Andrews is unflinching in presenting the struggles these women faced during and after their enslavement. He does so through the fictional lead Ja-hee, an amalgam of girls taken as young as thirteen and enslaved across the Pacific. Ja-hee survives her ordeal through intelligence, sacrifice and perseverance, only to be confronted by new challenges during the Korean War and the rebuilding of a divided Korea.

The first third of the book focuses on her life before and during her captivity. It is a harrowing read. The middle pages cover her life after the Japanese are defeated and she returns to North Korea. Here Andrews places Ja-hee near the Soviet-American negotiations that ultimately spark the Korean War. Forced to flee to the South she ends up in an American run bar during the Korean War, where American soldiers like the Japanese before them seek to push her back into sexual slavery as a prostitute or “juicy” girl. Ja-hee ends up in Seoul and builds a respectable life for herself as South Korea rebuilds into a vibrant nation, only to have everything ripped away again when her employers learn her history. Throughout these events, Ja-hee shows enviable grace and patience in seeking to live an honorable life despite the obstacles placed in front of her. The end finds her bowed but ultimately triumphant as an old woman who has survived with dignity the worst the world can offer.

While the book is first and foremost about Ja-hee and the challenges faced and overcome by comfort women, Andrews includes subtle political commentary throughout the novel, delivered through the voices of his characters that provide additional and interesting food for thought.

He suggests that the Korea War might never have happened had Korea been allowed to chart its own destiny at the close of World War II versus a negotiated pawn in the conflict between Soviet communist expansionism and the US push for a capitalist Korea. I’m not sure I agree with this point, but it might have prevented the rein of Kim Il-Sung, the despotic founder of the regime that rules North Korea today. He also suggests that Korea’s future might have been different had the U.S. not driven China to enter the Korean War that ultimately divided the nation into North and South. Again, the politics are complicated, but Andrews' view that nations should be left to decide their own fates, for good or ill, without outside influence is I think correct. How many despots and and disasters have resulted from external colonialism or influence in national politics over the last two centuries? I can think of very few success stories.

A point that Andrews returns to several times in the novel that I do agree with is how arrogance can justify most anything. In a discussion between Ja-hee and an American colonel during the Korean War, Ja-hee asks what differentiates the Japanese pressing women into comfort service during WW II and American’s doing the much the same in their bars and brothels through trickery—paying the girls but too little to repay their debts, effectively enslaving them as prostitutes. The Japanese justified their actions as service to the empire in return for enriching the “backward” countries they conquered. The Colonel calls the Japanese action abhorrent, then justifies the American’s actions as capitalism in service of saving Korea from communism, unwittingly validating Ja-hee's point.

This same arrogant rhetoric seems to pervade politics these days. Arrogance justifying any action, no matter how illegal, to achieve the goal of those in power, e.g. Putin’s occupation of Ukraine and Crimea, Assad's actions in Syria, Duarte’s murder campaign in the Philippines, Israeli persecution of Palestine, Iran vs Saudi Arabia across the Middle East, and lest we forget US black sites and the torture of prisoners in the name of fighting terrorism. The list is endless and I fear likely to grow under the current crop of new world leaders.

A widely accepted truism is history is written by the victors. With Daughters of the Dragon Andrews gives welcome voice to a class of victims too long ignored. Excellent.

For a short article on the comfort women of Korea see: http://www.vox.com/2015/12/29/1068283...

[Karen R · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana

Daughters o the Dragon opened my eyes to ‘Comfort Women’, a term I had never heard. During World War II, thousands of young women were abducted from their homes and forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army. They were unnervingly called ‘comfort women’ and the brothels ‘comfort stations’. The stations were set up during the war to keep up morale of Japanese soldiers and discourage their rape of local women. Deplorable.

This story is told through the eyes of a Korean grandmother and her granddaughter. It begins when Anna, the granddaughter leaves America with her father and fifteen other American families to travel to Seoul to meet their birth families. Anna is there to meet her birth mother but there is a mix-up and Anna is told her mother is dead. Through a stroke of luck, a passed note on the street on her way back to the group’s bus and her curiosity of an antique comb, Anna is brought together with her grandmother, Jae Hee. This is when Jae Hee’s story begins. It is absolutely riveting and a story based on real history. As a young 14-year old Jae Hee was forced into being a comfort woman, along with her older sister Soo-hee. The psychological and physical torture was hard to read, but Jae Hee’s courage and strength shone through. She survived this slaughterhouse brothel (an estimated two-thirds of these women died before the war ended); escaping but then struggles to rebuild her life. It is not an easy path; there is sorrow and poverty. What a well-told story. I don’t agree with some of the reviewers who have dinged the author on his writing capabilities. I was swept up into the story early, felt the emotions and had a deep compassion for the women; especially knowing it is based on real history.

This was an important story to be told, shedding light on a dark time in world history. An estimated 200,000 women serving an army of seven million are thought to have been forced into this life. According to the author’s notes, to this day, every Wednesday for the past 23 years a group of elderly women march on the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, demanding an apology from the Japanese government. They are the last of an army of real comfort women, tortured and raped as sex slaves during World War II, all more than 80 years old. In 1991, the first former ‘comfort woman’ went public with her story and inspired many others to finally talk about their experiences. I am inspired to find a memoir by one of the survivors.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't stop til I read the entire book

I'm not sure how I've never heard of this terrible time in history. This book and the story caused a very visceral reaction. I was sick. I cried. I was beyond angry. The author does a wonderful job weaving the story. It makes me want to read more from the author and certainly more on the subject. These women deserve so much more and I agree that until these atrocities are acknowledged by every nation it will almost certainly happen again.

[Book Reviews by Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zdecydowanie jednak z najlepszych książek, jakie przeczytałam w tym roku! Bardzo żałuję, że nie wydano u nas kolejnych tomów :( Będę musiała polować na angielskie wydania. Jestem szalenie ciekawa tego, jak ta historia się rozwinie. Dodam, że niektóre fragmenty były dla mnie zbyt mocne. Chodzi zwłaszcza o opisy tego, co działo się w stacjach komfortu, gdzie gwałcono i mordowano młode Koreanki :(

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first 5-star book of the year. What a profound and emotional account of the horrors perpetrated against Koreans, especially women, throughout that nation's history. I learned so much from this book, and will be thinking about it for some time to come.

I have read a lot of historical fiction, but this is the first time I have read about the comfort stations and what those women suffered through.

A word to those just starting the book - look at the pictures at the back of the book before you start reading. I did not realize they were there, but it would have made the story much more poignant than it already was.

I also did not realize until the end that the author's grandmother was a comfort woman. I wished I would have known that in the beginning, as it would have brought the story home to me even more. Do not get me wrong, this book horrified me in places and had me crying like a baby - tears of both happiness and sadness. Very emotional.

[Sandra Cohen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Angry. This book made me angry. The story is an important one to tell and one that was, in abstract, moving. I am not minimizing the horrific things that happened to Ja-hee. The voice was not, however, from that woman but from a white man detailing the gratuitous violence done. Anna was just a prop and even her struggles were brushed over. At no point did I feel the hearts, the Yi, of any of the women. One star for the overview of Korean history and Japanese (and American) oppression.

[Travis Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for the main story retelling the past. Two stars for the present day story, which at times was cringe-worthy. Averaging that gives three stars, but I'll add another star for the Korean history lesson. Perhaps if I were better versed in Korean / Japanese history beforehand it wouldn't have been as interesting, but it was an accessible way to learn some basic dynamics of the region's history and culture and make me eager to read further on the subject.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel really bad about giving this such a "low" rating. This is a piece of history that, as many things that happened during WWII, is almost entirely overlooked. I'd heard the term "comfort women" in passing while reading another novel based in (now) South Korea but the details were quickly glossed over, so when this came up on the Kindle store I had to download it (and even read it in one day).

But the writing was sort of..rough. As another reviewer pointed out, some parts of the story were oddly rushed while others had way too much "telling".

For an example, I'll use the quote used by the previous reviewer:

"Maybe I can make this quick. I tell her I don't think I should have the comb and that I came to return it. She says I might change my mind when I hear her story. I ask her why but she doesn't answer and continues to stare at me. I fidget in my chair. I realize I don't know her name. I ask her what it is. "

Here was have Anna's point of view as she's conversing with a strange Korean woman who claims to be her grandmother. This conversation is "live", taking place in the "present" yet instead of playing out the dialogue we get it all awkwardly lumped into one run-on paragraph. It was a tad lazy and more than a little uninspired...it felt like a missed opportunity to get to know Jae-hee and Anna both better, to establish a bit of a relationship between them.

Aside from the unimaginable trauma Jae-hee was forced to endure by the Japanese soldiers (which I have no doubt was and is seared forever into the survivors minds), it seemed odd to me that a woman of 70 was able to perfectly recall in exact detail nearly everyday of her life. What she wore, how she did her hair, what she said, how she said it, how she sat, and even how she scooted to the edge of her chair (frequently) to confront someone.

It was strange how events that took place in the past were more detailed than things that were taking place in the "present".

The things Jae-hee went through...well, this is a very tough subject to write about as it is. Throwing in two different cultures, a war, and the aftermath from the war and the country splitting apart must have made for a Mt. Kilimanjaro sized obstacle to hurtle over. I understand what the author was trying to do:

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana

But the amount of detail that was provided was too much. Why did we need to know penis sizes? Why do we need a play by play of what they did to her?

While I understand it was an important part of Jae-hee's past and it was necessary to "show" the brutality that these women were subjected too...it almost felt like these scenes were so numerous and detailed, they overshadowed Jae-hee and her sisters.

Instead of getting a deeper view into her mind, her emotions (I understand that survivors are often times "detached" from the traumatic event, but Jae-hee had obviously used it to find the strength to survive), how she coped (such as leaving her body as many rape/sexual abuse victims often report) with these horrors, how she and her sisters supported each other and encouraged each other to survive...we got overly detailed scenes of the horrors that Jae-hee had to suffer through.

I was also completely crushed at the end Jae-Hee who was called Mrs. Hong the entire time by Anna, was in fact Ms. or Miss. I thought the entire time she was widowed, that she had found a man who had accepted her and had helped supported her unconditionally. Only for it to reveal her life was misery from the moment she left her families farm to nearly the end of her life. That she'd never found another man who accepted her unconditionally.

The fantasy twist with the comb was...odd. I thought it was a historical fiction, I wasn't expecting magic to be part of the retelling of unthinkable war crimes.

Anna's character had no development and was almost unbelievable. Human trafficking is is a huge problem around the world, South Korea isn't immune from this either. They have campaigns and special police forces fighting it. What girl in her right mind would go to someone's apartment claiming to be their grandmother with next to no proof? What father in their right mind would just shrug and let their daughter, skip off to some unknown place, with a strange woman, in a foreign country?

The whole situation was unbelievably naive.

Anna had next to no character development either. Instead of developing her spine and making choices for herself or allowing her grandmother's story to influence her she gets possessed by whatever is in the comb.

The ignorance of the American solider (who was in the DMZ) about Jae-hee's hanbok was also unbelievably childish and poorly written. This book was published in 2016, South Korea asked the UN to begin withdrawing troops from the border in 1992. Since '92 the border has been guarded by ROK only, Americans were given administrative tasks before being pulled out altogether in 2004.

So...problem one: there wouldn't be an American Sergeant entering the bus to check passports. It would have been a ROK member, who would have been at least 5'6", with sunglasses, a pistol, and a hell of a poker face...all of which are requirements to serve in that area. It might have changed, given recent events, but the chapter clearly states this takes place in 2008...four years after ROK had taken the area back over.

Even if there was a rogue American there on a deployment, soldiers are generally sent there "on tour" for a year or more. They're given days "off" and are encouraged to go out and interact with the general public and explore the country they've been tasked with helping protect. Hanbok are still common enough that there's no way the rogue American hasn't seen pictures or even a few women wearing it during special occasions or a festival.

Similar to the cheongsam, kimono and yukata, the hanbok isn't something that died off as soon as Western style pants were introduced. Pictures of "upper class" women from North Korea even depict them wearing hanbok. My mother-in-law (who is from South Korea and who's family still lives there) wore a hanbok to get married ages ago and her family still wears them for special occasions (again, during weddings).

This scene was a weak final attempt to make Anna seem like she'd somehow developed a "royal" spine. When in reality, she hadn't really developed much as a character (at all). If the soldier in question had deemed Jae-hee's clothes inappropriate (which they more than likely wouldn't have even batted an eye about it since hanbok are consider "formal") he would have turned her around and sent her back, not have been cowed by a 20-something-year-old Korean-American woman. Trust me, BMT and the crap they deal with at their assigned bases, and during deployments is a lot more intimidating than a civilian glaring at them.

These rules are in place for a reason. Not only do North Koreans take photos of sloppily dressed people and use them as propaganda to "prove" how "poor" other countries are, inadequate clothing and shoes can prevent someone from running properly if shit hit the fan.

This is an important piece of history that is overlooked far too much, it should be a requirement to learn about this in school. I appreciate what the author did, he made more people aware of what happened and these people are more likely to mention it to a friend or family member who will look it up and discuss it with other people. Slowly spreading awareness.

I just wish the magic had been dropped from it and the story had focused more on Jae-hee and how she mentally and emotionally survived these horrors, instead of almost purely focusing on what was done to her by the Japanese soldiers.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel pretty ambiguous about this book. On one hand, it is tragic and fascinating, especially the grandmother's story, but on the other it somehow feels cheap in a way. Past tense narrative (grandmother bits) flows much easier than the present tense (granddaughter). Something about the use of present tense just felt really jarring here, and that is weird cause I usually love present tense narration as it adds to intimacy and feels closer and much more immediate, but here it just didn't work. Also, the comb story was pretty much redundant in my opinion. It started inoffensively, but the big reveal as to what the comb is and what it means, that was a tad cheap and made me roll my eyes. It would have been a much better story without it. I also found the "serve the country even if it kills you" idea super problematic and nonsensical, but that's really just me, perhaps others are into it. So the book had potential--very interesting, super tragic and often neglected history, but some bits about the way it was told and the whole comb story were not too good I am afraid.

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

How I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley

This was a great historical novel about the horrors comfort women went through as a historical event, but also on an individual scale, about how rape follows a woman her entire life and how she pays the price and essentially 'does the time' for her rapist. While the comfort women's story is very historically particular, the individual one seemed very universal as to the experience of rape victims and how it affects a person's whole life, moving on.

I can't attest to how accurate this book is historically or culturally, but it was plainly visible that the author, although American himself, is deeply in love with the culture and history of Korea, and how much he cares about the fate of the country, as a unified nation, which may not be possible from where things are right now between the North and South. I have read his other book, The Dragon Queen, and it was also overflowing with the way the author feels about the fate of these countries. Both books were great, and also very interesting to read. He is a talented author for sure. Considering the intention and feeling of the author, even if there are cultural discrepancies, it should be held in mind how much the author feels for the culture of Korea and how he wants to spread awareness of the painful history in its past - especially because some of this history is attempted to be covered up by parties involved (such as the comfort women's story or other horrors of Japanese occupation.)

The reader should keep in mind, though, that this book may be very triggering. It's about comfort women, so there is a lot of rape, although the author writes with respect to the women, rape is still rape and the book is very sad at times. There is also a lot of death and loss, because it's a story of war, occupation and struggle. Keep this in mind, if you may be triggered by these topics.

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

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[CL · Rating 5 out of 5]

During WW II, the Japanese forced young Korean women to be sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers. This is the story of Ja-hee. She and her sister are forced into this life and it is a brutal existence until Ja-hee escapes after her sister’s death. She tries to build a new life but has always felt embarrassment and the shame of her past even though it was not her fault what she had to endure. Her mother had given the girls an ivory comb of a two-headed dragon saying it is to protect them. Over the years Ja-hee thinks it has not protected her and considers selling it but still holds on to it even as she struggles to survive. Anna, a young Korean girl adopted and raised as an American tries to find her birth mother after the death of her adoptive mother to find only her grandmother who tells her the story of her past ancestors. A hard to read story about things that actually took place but a part of history I did not know much about. I would like to thank the Publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC.

[Charlotte Guzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My last book of the year and my favorite of the year.
The comfort women was a subject matter I had heard of but never researched.
This book is fiction but based on fact.
I loved the characters and this author wrote with such emotion that it brought tears to my eyes.
The following quote says it all:

"If we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it."
George Santayana

Let us not forget the world history and try make this world better.
Highly recommended!

[Brittany McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Daughters of the Dragon is written by Bill Andrews and is historically based around the women who were forced by the Japanese to be “comfort women” or ianfu during World War II.

A girl named Anna is a Korean who was adopted by an American family as a baby. When her American mother dies of cancer she finds that she is at an impasse in life and decides to travel to South Korea in an attempt to locate her birth mother to learn more about her past. She finds much more than she could have ever imagined.

I must commend Mr. Andrews on his ability to capture this story through the eyes of a woman. Included within Daughters of the Dragon are many heart wrenching and difficult to read passages are included in this book, and Bill was very careful and intimate with small details that he showed careful attention to.

This historical fiction story of a story told to Anna holds much fact from Korea’s history. I admittedly learned many details about the history, which hold true with the true accounts of what happened during this time. To date the Japanese have not formally apologized for the atrocities that were conducted against these women that have still never been fully acknowledged by either the Korean or Japanese governments. To date the remaining ianfu still march outside of the Japanese embassy weekly even though many of them are now in their 80s and 90s.

So many aspects of this book pulled at my heart, and I could feel myself there within these pages. There were some painful aspects to read of accounts that NEED to be told and NEED to be heard. There were times when I found tears in my eyes for the way that life had to be survived at a day at a time.

After surviving the horrors of being a “comfort woman”, Ja-hee found herself in an increasingly communistic North Korea, and after fleeing found that she was fighting to always try to escape the embarrassment and dishonor that she felt from what had been down to herself.

This book is an easy 5/5 stars, with its passion swept across the pages; passion for love, honor, survival, strength, independence, and for self-growth. This book spoke to my very soul and makes my heart ache for the pain my world sister had to endure during their time as comfort women and the hardships they encountered if they managed to make it out of their alive. EVERYONE should read this story and pass it on. This is one of those novels that I hope may reach other forums to reach further audiences. Hopefully we can see it portrayed accurately in a move theater one day soon as this story needs to be heard.

For more information go to http://www.comfort-women.org

[Lucy-May · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was more powerful than I could have imagined, and I will never understand how I managed to stop myself crying until right at the end. The whole story, from both Anna and Jae-hee's perspectives, read like a biography and I'm struggling to accept that it wasn't one.

I've found that I learn about history best by reading historical fiction, as you don't just learn the facts, you feel them too, and I've been incredibly educated during this read. I had no idea how the Koreans were treated during the Second World War, and I'm ashamed of myself for it; I cannot believe it's less than 100 years ago. I don't know much about North and South Korea, but I'm working through different books to educate myself, and despite this being a fictitious story, I've definitely learnt a lot about the divide between the two countries and how it came to be. If anything, this book has made me more hungry for knowledge about North and South Korea. It's also opened my eyes wider to the behaviour of the Japanese during that time - the focus always tends to be on Germany, but Japan, and Russia, played their parts in the horror of that time too.

The story itself that William Andrews has created is beautiful and incredibly powerful; my heart was broken throughout the entire read and it's a story I will think about for a long time to come. I cried and cringed for the characters, and my heart warmed when something went right for Jae-lee. William has managed to stitch together such a captivating story and has created characters that feel incredibly real. When I finished the book I cried for Jae-hee, and for all the real women who went through what her character did; I think reading the author's note at the end made me cry because it reinforced that Jae-hee's life is based upon incredibly real, and painful, events. Although the story broke my heart, I'm sad I've finished the book because it was an incredible story. One day I would love to do my bit to help raise awareness of Korea's secrets, but also to help those still suffering in Korea.

[Sonal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book on horrors of World War II but this one is a lesser known story, obscured from the world. More than Hundred thousand Asian women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army who were housed into dingy comfort stations where the Japanese soldiers could appease themselves by raping these women.

This book tells a sad story of a Korean girl who was forced to be a comfort woman at the age of 14. Her story doesn't end with the war. The physical brutality might have stopped but she was marked for life and always looked down upon, dishonorably for what she suffered. Somehow she was made to feel that it was her fault. The character depicted by the author might be fictional but it is a representation of the life of millions of women who underwent this atrocity.

The narrative is in the form of memoir. It is a gripping story, a depressing one but quite well told. The book is a very fast read, finished more than half of it in a go.

[Olga Kowalska (WielkiBuk) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Powieść Williama Andrewsa to bolesna, poruszająca opowieść o koszmarze wojny, o horrorze, który nie miał miejsca w okopach, na pierwszych liniach frontu, ale w małych, zawilgoconych brudnych domkach na uboczu, gdzie każdego dnia kobiety cierpiały w imieniu „wyższego dobra”. „Córki smoka” to historia tych upokorzeń, ale także przejmująca wizja odkupienia, poszukiwania sensu i wewnętrznej siły, by przetrwać, by zawalczyć o swoje. To jedna z tych opowieści, które wzruszają uniwersalnością, bo przypominają o wszystkich ofiarach konfliktów na świecie. O tych, którzy przetrwali wbrew wszystkiemu, którzy nie poddawali się w obliczu katastrofy, którym udało się przeżyć koszmar i obudzić się na nowo. William Andrews oddał im głos – być może miejscami zbyt egzaltowany i wciąż fikcyjny, ale głos na tyle ważny i na tyle głośny, by mogła usłyszeć go reszta świata, a któremu nie pozwoli już zamilknąć.

[Weronika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ta historia tak bardzo boli. To co przeżywały "kobiety do towarzystwa" było tak okrutne, obrzydliwe, straszne i nieludzkie. To jak były traktowane później, o ile przeżyły było równie straszne. Bo jak można inaczej mówić o milczeniu w sprawie wielokrotnych gwałtów na tysiącach swoich rodaczek?
Przez część książki chciało mi się płakać nad losem Jae-hee, a przez resztę byłam zła na to jak bardzo jest karana za to że miała wolę życia i przeżycia, że chciała mówić co spotkało ją i tysiące innych kobiet.
Polecam każdemu, bo to historia, którą znać trzeba.

[nika · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have no words.

[Chelle Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm extremely torn on this book. First and foremost, I absolutely applaud bringing to the table the trauma endured by the 'comfort women' of South Korea. This is a much overlooked atrocity. I do believe, after reading the afterward by the author that this book was written for the right reasons. Unfortunately, the book falls extremely flat in it's execution. This is a book written about South Korea by someone who has clearly never lived there, much less been there. Every opportunity to describe something that would clarify the location as specifically Korean was missed. The dialogue was clunky at best, and often often threw out phrases such as "in Korea" when two Korean people, who are in Korea, are talking to each other. The phrase 'typical Korean' made me uncomfortable in the way it was used. So many different very western thinking descriptions were used or actions taken. You can't simply throw out a few words in Hangul in italics and expect that to cover the Korean-ness. Most if not all of the character development between Ja-hee and anyone were missed or explained in retrospect. Rarely were her emotions explained, or her survival instincts explained clearly. She makes an incredibly far walk directly after extreme trauma and it's summarized in one page without any logistical descriptions and little to no explanation of her emotions, thoughts or lack of emotions. I've read many male authors that have managed to pull off complex female emotions and thought processes but I did not feel this was the case with this story. I did find the parallel between the US coming in and using the juicy bars both realistic and upsetting for it's realism. Juicy girls are still common in Korea, only now you find it's more Korean run bars with Filipino girls. Although the author missed the whole reason they are called juicy bars is because to buy time with the women is to buy them expensive non-alcoholic juice drinks. Many things indicated to me that this book was written by someone who read the history but didn't understand the culture. I don't want to pick the book apart, but I will say that the last thing towards the end that really irked me was the idea that with enough money you can just buy a reunion at the DMZ. Furthermore, the idea that any a solider would be working at such a highly charged and politically sensitive area as Panmunjom would be without the slightest awareness of the culture of the local country was simply too much. I realize that moment was completely engineered to show Anna gaining courage, but it was just ridiculously unbelievable. I found the 'dragon comb' distracting, from the main story line of a woman's incredible survival in a time of great upheaval in her country. I do not foresee myself reading the second book.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had heard about the Comfort Women who were abducted into forced prostitution by the Japanese army during WWII although only in the context of the Japanese occupation of China, so I was unaware that a huge number of Korean women were also enslaved. Therefore, the book was educational in that respect and also in the reasons for the Korean War and why the country is split to the present day. The way the whole issue was covered up to avoid political or trade conflicts with Japan after the war is also disgraceful, and this was portrayed in the more recent parts of the main character's story.

Where I'm not so keen on the book is the emphasis on grisly descriptions of violence against women rather than on the characters of the women and how they survive and, in some cases, support each other. The attitudes of the Geishas is also left unexplored; they seem callous towards the slaves because they are not Japanese. It isn't clear exactly what role they performed given that most of the 'servicing' was done by the prisoners: mainly, they just seem to sit around watching. It also didn't quite gell that this is written by a man from the West whose only connection to Korea is that he adopted a child from the country.

The emphasis on the comb and its meaning is also rather odd, serving to make the main character artificially special rather than representative of the women who suffered. The present day framing only serves to make it less credible that the character can recall sixty year old events in such minute detail, and I found those present day parts to be much weaker. Her granddaughter isn't really developed as a character and it isn't convincing that her adoptive father would let her go off alone in a foreign country to meet a woman who claimed to be her grandmother given the real life instances of abduction and trafficking. Due to these considerations, I can only rate this as a 3 star read and hope that a book on the subject will be written one day by someone with a Korean ethnic and cultural background.

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing journey!

Searching for her Korean birth mother leads twenty year old American Anna Carlson into a dark story of suffering, anguish and despair that the Japanese nation still has to properly apologize for.
This novel is a further example of women caught up into war and used and abused by those who think of themselves as more entitled and more powerful. An age old story.
Andrews has woven a wonderful heart wrenching story, without apology, and without false emotions.
What unfolds is the life of a young Korean girl, Jae-hee who is terribly and horribly brutalized during the Japanese occupation of Korea; and who is somehow able to emotionally stay strong, despite the dogs of despair nipping at her heals.
This is not gushy, not over the top, simply a telling of the journey of one young woman who is used as a sex slave 'comfort woman' by the Japanese. Jae-hee moves to North Korea in the hope of change and a better world. That was not the holy grail it was supposed to be. She then barely escapes with her life to South Korea to struggle as best she may in the aftermath of the Korean War, contending with the shaming prejudices rampant against her and her comfort sister sufferers.
Threaded throughout is the mystery of the comb with the two-headed dragon--a comb that Anna is confronted about by North Koreans.
A worthy and revealing read.

A NetGalley ARC

[Hanka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nemůžu tomu dát méně jak 5 hvězdiček. Já prostě nemám slov. A myslím že tohle by si měl každý přečíst.
Ve školách se učíme o koncentračních táborech a krutostech, které byly páchány na lidech. Ale o tomto se nemluví. Nevěděla jsem, že se něco takového Korejkám dělo. Že tak moc trpěly. Že musely zvládnout nedobrovolně obsloužit i několik desítek mužů denně, kteří je často mučili. A to nemluvím ani o tom, v jakých podmínkách tam žily.
A ani po tom, co Japonci odešli, se jim nikdo ani neomluvil. Ba naopak stále trpěly. Stále si spousta lidí myslela a i teď myslí, že tam šly dobrovolně. Že to byla chyba těch dívek. Že měly raději umřít než na něco takového kývnout. A pocit, že ještě do teď tyto ženy žádají omluvu a každou středu protestují, je smutné.

Kniha je dechberoucí, nádherně napsaná. To, jak je příběh vyprávěn, je geniální. Některé scény byly celkem těžké přečíst, vzhledem ke krutostem, které se v knize odehrávaly, ale autor se k tomu postavil skvěle a jde vidět, že to popisoval s úctou k těm ženám.
Měla jsem pocit, jako bych to vše prožívala s vypravěčkou jejího příběhu. Brečela jsem u toho, cítila jsem radost, hněv, stesk... Ale hlavně jsem cítila tu neskutečnou sílu žen, které si tímto musely projít a přežily. A dodalo mi to další ujištění v tom, jak jsou ženy hrozně silné!

[Joy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is historical fiction of the life of a "comfort woman," a euphemism for a sex slave, to the Japanese military during WWII. The main character tells her story to her granddaughter, who had been adopted at birth by an American family, and had travelled to Korea to seek her birth mother. I read it quickly, and found it compelling. I wondered if a grandmother would tell her story in such detail to her granddaughter, but dismissed it as a plot device. I had known of the existence of these women but had never internalized that it meant forced sexual slavery for many thousands of Asian women. I also learned a bit about Korean history. As you may expect from the subject matter, this book is not for children or for anyone triggered by descriptions of rape or battery.

[Philippa Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - that was not an easy read, but it is a book that needs to be read. It deals with a part of history that I knew very little about and what these women went through is horrific - I think it is shocking that it hasn't really been acknowledge. It was written well and is very accessible - I thought the structure of it was well done. It was a very interesting book - I know very little about the regions history - and it was engaging throughout. I finished this in a few sittings - I just needed to know what happened. I highly recommend this book.

[shubiektywnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,75

Z jednej strony to bardzo dobry przykład filmiki historycznej, której głównym motywem jest rozbudowana saga rodzinna, z drugiej niektóre elementy zostały w niej nieznacznie przejaskrawione.

Bardzo dobrze się tego słuchało, mogłabym polecić tę książkę fanom Lisy See czy Kristin Hannah, ale nie mogę przymknąć oczu na romantyzowanie tragedii. W ogólnym rozrachunku ta wada nie przyćmiewa licznych zalet, ale oczami przewrócić mi się zdarzyło.

[❦ Ingrid’s Bookshelf ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cosa sappiamo noi europei delle donne di conforto?
Nulla. Assolutamente nulla.
Che cosa sa il mondo intero delle donne di conforto?
Nulla. Praticamente zero.
Ed è ingiusto.

Della seconda guerra mondiale sappiamo molto: quello che ci viene insegnato sui banchi di scuola, quello che assorbiamo dai libri di testo e da qualsiasi altra fonte di informazione. Siamo al corrente dei bombardamenti atomici sul Giappone, di quelli sui civili in Europa e della battaglia di Stalingrado, ma tutto ciò è solo una piccola parte di quello che il mondo intero ha dovuto soffrire durante il conflitto. E mentre le urla di chi ha perso la vita nell’Olocausto laceravano l’anima del mondo, c’erano altre vittime che urlavano, eppure nessuno era disposto ad ascoltarle. Erano le donne di conforto.

La protagonista Jae-hee aveva appena quattordici anni quando è stata costretta a diventare una “ianfu”, una schiava sessuale per i soldati dell’esercito giapponese. Più giovane di me e forse anche di te che ora stai leggendo questa recensione. E molte sue compagne, scelte tra altre ragazze coreane e anche cinesi, erano addirittura più giovani ancora. Giovani poco più che bambine costrette a servire anche più di trenta uomini al giorno, giovani stuprate, seviziate, picchiate, che vivevano in condizioni igieniche atroci, obbligate ad abortire con metodi primitivi quando restavano incinte. Spesso morivano tra i dolori terribili delle malattie veneree trasmesse dai soldati giapponesi. Ancora più di frequente si toglievano la vita.

Jae-hee è nata nell’anno del Drago e, una volta sopravvissuta al dramma della stazione di conforto in Cina, la vita per lei non sarà mai semplice, perché è costretta a nascondere il suo passato a chiunque incontri, un passato giudicato infamante e disonorevole dai coreani stessi e per il quale i giapponesi si rifiutano di domandare scusa. Come se non fosse mai successo.

C’è tanta rabbia in questo libro. C’è tanto dolore e tanto disgusto, perché l’autore non si risparmia nei dettagli e butta addosso ai lettori tutto lo schifo, il degrado, la violenza, l’ingiustizia. Ma io ci ho trovato anche tantissima forza, la forza di una ragazza coraggiosa che vuole vivere e tenere la testa alta nonostante ciò che è stata costretta a subire in passato. Non è una lettura leggera, no di certo. Ma è necessaria. Non so come definirla altrimenti.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Putting my feelings toward this book into words is far more difficult than anticipated.

Daughters of the Dragon came to my attention as a recommendation based on a few other books I’d looked at before. The summary made it sound fascinating, and I wanted to pick it up even despite my usual exhaustion with multi-generational novels that flip flop between time periods.

As it turned out, this was nothing like that so heavily relied upon ‘jump through three overly important time periods to hear the stories of three women from the same family’ narrative.

Instead, it was quite possibly one of the most poignant and quietly moving books I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

Our present day protagonist is Anna, a young woman who just lost her mother and took leave from college to spend time with her father. This turn of events leads Anna on a trip to meet her birth mother. She and her father join a group of other adoptees from South Korea and their parents with this exact goal in mind.

Yet after endless waiting, Anna is told her birth mother died while in labor, and the trip’s purpose was moot all along.

At least, it seems that way until a mysterious older woman insists Anna take a package, which she later finds holds an exquisite dragon comb and an address.

As Anna tries to reconcile the version of herself she knows and the Korean woman she describes seeing in the mirror, she decides to take a cab to the address to learn more.

In order to explain the importance of the comb, the elderly woman - who says she is Anna’s birth grandmother - tells her story.

What unfolds after that is a haunting story of bravery and history swept under the rug.

Rather than some back and forth, sweeping saga over generations, we learn about a young girl tricked into serving as a comfort woman for Japanese soldiers. Her story is told in first person, which makes for a particularly thoughtful choice since it delves into the past while still underlining how many details she still cannot forget decades later.

Describing how deeply Daughters of the Dragon moved me, even when I least excepted it, feels like an impossible task. There is an emotional undercurrent to the novel that grips you at all the right times while still respecting its storyteller enough not to dramatize or cheapen her tale.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who even temporarily considers it might be of interest to them. What I thought might be an interesting read quickly developed into one of the most touching works of fiction I’ve experienced in a long time.