Lilly of the Valley — Kenneth Zeigler

She was born of humble beginnings, in the shadows of a grain mill, far from the centers of power. She was a little girl full of faith and love in a nation where faith and love, beyond that for their supreme leader and his family, were strictly forbidden. Her given name was Li-Hua, but those around her caller her Lilly, for she was born in the spring, when the fields were ablaze with beautiful flowers. She was a most beautiful child, full of life and hope, who had the gift to charm most everyone around her. Yet she held a dark secret, the same dark secret that her mother bore. She was a Christian, the lowest of humans in the Nation of North Korea. Both she and her mother, Ae-Cha, had been disowned by her mother's family, and now, with the death of her father, faced an indeed bleak future. Were it not for the kindness of her paternal grandfather, she and her mother would surely have been cast out into the world or even worse, into a reeducation camp. Yet, Lilly's love and charm slowly won the hearts of those around her. Yet, it is more than that. She has seemingly inexplicable gifts; the power to heal the sick with a touch of her hand, the ability to see future events, and the power to expose and even repel evil. It was not long before these qifts become general knowledge, even in the halls of powers in Pyongyang. She exemplified all that they had so long fought to deny. Her very existence exposed their lies that there was no higher power in the universe. There could be only one place to put her and her mother, a place where their ideas and deeds could be hidden from the nation, the concentration camp Yodok, most dreaded of all the camps. Here the contagion could be contained, and those who spread it would live lives that would be cut indeed short. Or would they? This is the story of a little girl who altered the history of an entire nation with her love and deeds.