Page 25, paragraph 1: ‘Coal mining in North Korea was not only dirty but exceedingly dangerous, since the mines frequently collapsed or caught fire.’

Page 25, paragraph 2: ‘The worst were in the coal mines, which were hastily dug and subject to frequent collapses and fires.’ (Leave aside the fact that it is not clear who or what the ‘were’ here actually refers to in the context.)

Call me picky but I find that sort of thing annoying, especially in a prize-winning book, which this is, having scooped the Samuel Johnson award for non-fiction earlier this year. The unpleasant sound you hear is the sound of the venerable essayist and lexicographer gyrating in his grave.

‘Non-fiction can give you facts, but only fiction can give you the truth.’ If you want to know what it’s like to live in North Korea, read this book. If you want to feel what it’s like to live under a repressive regime, I refer you to Yiyun Li’s novel ‘The Vagrants’, or ‘The Land of Green Plums’ by Herta Muller.