The Forest of Stolen Girls
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The Forest of Stolen Girls
“What haunts you, sir?” I asked, remembering that Magistrate Hong had often summoned Shaman Nokyung to help him with his nightmares. But when the magistrate continued to remain still as a rock, I said, “Do the girls – the missing and the dead – visit you in your dreams? Asking you for help?”
A tremor shook his hand as he reached for his bowl of rice wine. He gulped it down and muttered, “You are bold, young mistress.”
“They say that those who have nothing to lose are the boldest,” I said. “I have no father. I have no mother. I have nothing, sir.”
Maewol. The thought flickered across like a firefly at night. I have her. But it was a flash, and then gone. Maewol was my sister, but she didn’t feel like family. I was sure she felt the same way.
“Well, the world is unfair and unjust,” he said, his voice wavering. “We live in a world where hardship crushes those who are deserving of better, where obstacles line the path of those who try to do good. And all the while, the path clears easily for those that have evil in their heart. No matter how hard you strive to fight evil, nothing will change. Absolutely nothing at all. The sooner you learn to accept that, the easier your life will become.
“You are not wrong, sir,” I said quietly. I had caught a glimpse of Magistrate Hong’s reality on this penal island. “But my father always told me to be what I long for the world to be like – to be just, to be fair.”
Detective Min has gone missing, and his daughter Hwani is determined to find him. Her father traveled to the island of Jeju for a couple of reasons. Hwani and her younger sister Maewol went missing there and were later found in the forest near a particularly gruesome crime scene. On top of that, 13 more girls have disappeared in the same forest. Detective Min is determined to find out what has happened, and then he vanishes along with the rest. Maewol and Hwani do their best to remember and reconstruct what happened to them in the forest several years ago in the hope that these memories will not only explain their past but will provide the key for finding the many missing girls and, most importantly, finding their father.
Hwani has been literally and figuratively far away from her sister for some time, and the two are complete opposites. The estranged girls at first do not get along, but, as time goes on, they realize they need to rely on one another if they are ever to solve this case. Hwani takes after her dad and wants to use a step-by-step and analytical approach to the situation. She demonstrates both determination and perseverance in her dogged pursuit of various suspects on the island and the clues they provide.
Maewol is, on the other hand, more adventurous and more apt to act on intuition and enthusiastic excitement. She is an apprentice to a shaman and has a more mystical, even spiritual, approach to the world. Together, the sisters become a formidable team, and much of the interest of the novel is rooted in their ever-changing and growing relationship. The love of family and the loyalty of the sisters to one another and to their father are major themes of the novel.
Both action and adventure abound in The Forest of Stolen Girls, and the mystery plot guides the momentum. Author June Hur provides lots of clues sprinkled through the story and takes her readers through the many twists and turns given by several potential suspects and their very credible motives. Only near the very end of this page-turner does Hur reveal the exact answers to the many riddles of what has happened to the missing girls and Detective Min, himself. Astute readers may unravel the mysterious threads on their own, but most readers will need the finale to understand the ins and outs of the intricate plot.
Hur’s first novel, The Silence of Bones, was set in the time of the Joseon dynasty in Korea (1372-1897), and Hur returns to this era, specifically the year 1426. The historical details add interest and texture to the story and provide a look at Asian culture during a time which will be virtually unknown to most readers. Power struggles and the role of women are themes which continue throughout the book. Hur presents a time when women are simply commodities, and tribute girls, as they are called, are merely objects to be traded, bought and sold.
In many ways, The Forest of Stolen Girls is a dark novel despite the positivity of the growing friendship and closeness of the Min sisters. While reading, the Biblical phrase “the sins of the fathers…” came to mind often. Various families are depicted in the novel, and it is often the relationships between the fathers and their daughters which are highlighted. The author leads readers into psychological areas such as the trauma and grief felt after murder or suicide. The mystery and whodunit side of the book includes many dark crimes such as kidnapping, poisoning and mutilation. Not for the faint of heart! The island of Jeju mirrors this foreboding and unease, surrounding the characters with rain and mist and fog – an atmosphere of fear and mystery and even evil, to be sure.
The Forest of Stolen Girls book will appeal to a variety of young adult readers whether they are fans of historical fiction, crime and mystery, or psychological thrillers. There is something here for everyone.
In her acknowledgments, Hur refers to the ‘second book syndrome’ and her resulting doubt and fear. Perhaps it is this fear which she somehow translated into this excellent and memorable novel which revolves around exactly that emotion.
Ann Ketcheson, a retired high school teacher-librarian and classroom teacher of English and French, lives in Ottawa, Ontario.