A Step from Heaven

A STEP FROM HEAVEN: An Na: Front Street Publishing: Young Adult: 156 pgs.

Young Ju is a little girl when she and her parents emigrate from Korea to America in hopes for better opportunities in life. However, they face changes and hardships they hadn’t expected like poverty, a new baby, cultural differences, and a language barrier. The story follows the family’s struggles as Young Ju grows up, embarrassed by her family’s circumstances: the impoverished lifestyle, the numerous jobs her parents work, the favoritism of her brother, and her father’s alcoholic and abusive nature. She works hard in determination to make her way in this foreign world—a way that is far from the life she is forced to be in.

This is a well-written story that twists your heart. You sorrow for the young family and their trials, especially for those who are affected by the alcoholic father. But it also makes you hope that the characters will somehow find strength and triumph over their hardships.

hmt