Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home
    Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home
    Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home
    Audiobook10 hours

    Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home

    Written by Laura Ling and Lisa Ling

    Narrated by Laura Ling and Lisa Ling

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Somewhere Inside is the electrifying, never-before-told story of Laura Ling’s capture by the North Koreans in March 2009, and the efforts of her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, to secure Laura’s release by former President Bill Clinton. This riveting true account of the first ever trial of an American citizen in North Korea’s highest court carries readers deep inside the world’s most secretive nation while it poignantly explores the powerful, inspiring bonds of sisterly love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 18, 2010
    ISBN9780062012418
    Author

    Laura Ling

    Laura Ling is host and correspondent for E! Investigates. Previously she was vice president of Current TV's investigative journalism series Vanguard.

    Related to Somewhere Inside

    Related audiobooks

    Personal Memoirs For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Black Is the Body

      Mar 29, 2021

      FROM ISSUE #55: MEMOIR EMILY BERNARD is the author of Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine. Her work has appeared in the TLS, the American Scholar, the New Republic, the New Yorker, the Yale Review, Harper

      13 min read

    • Article

      Lift The Lamp

      Aug 10, 2018

      EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CLARA JEFFERY AFTER THE CAMBODIAN genocide began in 1975, my mom started taping pictures and headlines to our dining room wall. Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks and photos of the killing fields are what I remember about those meals. “We have t

      4 min read

    • Article

      Icons

      Apr 14, 2023

      Icons
      10 min read

    • Article

      Icons

      Apr 15, 2023

      Icons
      10 min read

    • Article

      Q&A with Julia Flynn Siler, author of ‘The White Devil’s Daughters’

      Aug 29, 2019

      The journalist writes on early activists who fought sex trafficking in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Pearl Of A Biography

      May 3, 2022

      John Boessenecker, a San Francisco trial lawyer and former police officer, has also become one of the leading historians on crime, outlaws and lawmen of the Old West. A recipient of both a Spur Award from Western Writers of America and a best book aw

      3 min read

    • Article

      Outside In

      Jan 19, 2024

      Outside In
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Gift

      Aug 14, 2019

      A Gift
      13 min read

    • Article

      In 'Afterland,' A World (Mostly) Without Men: Questions For Lauren Beukes

      Aug 5, 2020

      Lauren Beukes' new novel is set in a near future where a virus has killed off most of the men on Earth, and one woman is racing to free her young, immune son from the government and get him to safety.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Just About Us: We Build Our Own Future One Relationship At A Time

      Oct 15, 2020

      Vermont inclusive communities reimagining the relationship July 2020 African Americans to the Great Outdoors George Floyd was brutally killed by the police in Minneapolis on May 25th 2020. Earlier that same day, an incident took place in New Yo

      6 min read

    • Article

      We Have Always Been In Crisis

      Jun 26, 2020

      We Have Always Been In Crisis
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Deepest Of Silences

      Jul 29, 2022

      The Deepest Of Silences
      14 min read

    • Article

      How I Finally Learned That Trauma Does Not Define Me

      Jan 24, 2020

      “It can be exhausting to tell and retell your painful story just to get people to listen to you about other things.”

      3 min read

    • Article

      Talk to the Practitioner: Kathleen Alcalá

      Feb 25, 2023

      In the summer of 2010, I learned about Sephardic Jews and Crypto-Jews all at the same time. In my previous 35 years, I’d never even considered anything other than the European Jew, and the only Jews of color I knew were adoptees who’d been adopted in

      6 min read

    • Article

      Talk to the Practitioner: Kathleen Alcalá

      Feb 25, 2023

      In the summer of 2010, I learned about Sephardic Jews and Crypto-Jews all at the same time. In my previous 35 years, I’d never even considered anything other than the European Jew, and the only Jews of color I knew were adoptees who’d been adopted in

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Somewhere Inside

    4/5

    100 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This is an extraordinary account of a harrowing experience told by two very gifted journalists. I’m amazed that Laura was able to recall all the intrigue details of the captivity. The complexity of the rescue efforts and the human emotions from all sides kept me listening throughout the night. Definitely worth giving up sleep for.
    • 5/5
      This was one of the most incredible stories ever! A must read
    • 5/5
      An amazing book! Deepak Chopra said it was portrait of humanity at its finest and I couldn’t agree more.
    • 4/5
      This was an excellent book--very well written.
    • 5/5
      Engrossing read about the captivity of Laura Ling in North Korea and the efforts of her family to have her freed. Laura and her colleague Euna were doing a documentary on the horrible living conditions in North Korea- hunger, extreme poverty, no medical care. The women were captured by the North Koreans and imprisoned while the North Koreans were doing nuclear testing and there are NO diplomatic relations with the United States.Makes you wonder about other political prisoners who are not fortunate enough to have the connections of the Ling family.
    • 5/5
      I have been a huge fan of Lisa Ling ever since she was on The View. In fact when she left I pretty much stopped watching it. I liked how she would bring stories to our attention that I never knew were going on. When the story of how her sister Laura Ling and her colleague, Euna Lee had been captured and were being held prisoner in North Korea broke, I was surprised to learn that she had a sister in the same field as she. I was very concerned for Laura and Euna Lee and prayed for them. The two were working on a documentary about North Korean defectors who had fled the terrible conditions in their country only to end up in some terrible situations in China. While near the China- North Korean border the girls were captured by North Korean soldiers and dragged into North Korea where they were imprisoned. The book is told alternately through both Laura's eyes and Lisa's eyes. Laura tells of her ordeal in prison and being tried in North Korea. She was determined to survive and find a way out of what seemed to be a no-win situation. Lisa tells of what it was like waiting and wondering and how she diligently worked to find a way to bring her sister home. I don't think two sister's could be any closer to each other. You will want to hug your sister tightly after reading this book.
    • 4/5
      On a very frigid morning in March, 2009, Laura Ling, Euna Lee, and Mitch Koss crossed a frozen river from China and spent a few minutes on the North Korean bank of the river before turning back to China. Their purpose was to produce a documentary about the defectors fleeing North Korea into an uncertain future in China. Before they reached the Chinese bank, they were chased by North Korean soldiers. Mitch escaped. Laura and Euna spent 5 months detained by the North Korean government, not knowing what would happen to them. This is Laura's story of her imprisonment alternating with sister Lisa's story of her struggles to bring the prisoners home.Many of us know some of the story because of the media coverage. Now we can know much more of what really happened and the behind-the-scene struggles. I found the book fascinating, as entertaining (to use a word inappropriate for the gravity of the situation) as any spy novel out there, even though I knew how this one was going to end.There was little in the story about Euna because she and Laura had a few days together before they were separated. Neither knew what was happening to the other. They didn't know what would happen to themselves, whether they would be released, go to a work prison camp, or be executed. After the violence at the time of the arrest, Laura was not treated viciously or violently, but that is certainly not to say that she was treated well. Still, in some respects, they were treated better than the average citizens of the country.It seems hopeful that with the few people Laura met on a frequent basis, such as her guards and her interpreter, there was eventually a grudging kinship, person getting to know person, rather than governments with opposite agendas. There were unexpected kindnesses.I was amazed to learn of all the people who wanted to help, from bloggers to many people in government, to celebrities. Michael Jackson, just before he died, learned that North Korea's leader Kim Jon Il is a fan of Hollywood movies, and Jackson offered to go to Korea if it would help. In a rough part of Los Angeles where gang warfare is a part of life, both a “working girl” and a homeless person told Lisa that they were praying for Laura. Throughout, the strength and meaning of family was an unbreakable bond.One very minor problem in the writing for me is the use of “girls” to describe Euna and Laura. In one case, it was a strategic move, entirely appropriate, but in the others, it seemed a little flippant.There are people who given this book very low ratings because they believe that what this team did was wrong. While I respect that point of view, it does not lessen the impact the book had on me. Yes, the team broke laws. And they caused our government to be put in a very touchy situation. Crossing into North Korea was stupid, even if their guide, who apparently set them up, said it was safe. And the outcome might have been very different if the Lings didn't have friends and connections in the proverbial high places. Nevertheless, I am grateful that we have journalists who are willing to go that extra mile to report the controversial, hidden stories, and I am grateful that we are able to hear and read and see those stories.