In the Shadow of the Banyan - Hardcover

Ratner, Vaddey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1451657706 ISBN 13: 9781451657708

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2012

Synopsis

Told from the tender perspective of a young girl who comes of age amid the Cambodian killing fields, this searing first novel—based on the author’s personal story—has been hailed by Little Bee author Chris Cleave as “a masterpiece...utterly heartbreaking and impossibly beautiful.”

You are about to read an extraordinary story. It will take you to the very depths of despair and show you unspeakable horrors. It will reveal a gorgeously rich culture struggling to survive through a furtive bow, a hidden ankle bracelet, fragments of remembered poetry. It will ensure that the world never forgets the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, when an estimated two million people lost their lives. It will give you hope, and it will confirm the power of storytelling to lift us up and help us not only survive but transcend suffering, cruelty, and loss.

For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours, bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Soon the family’s world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as the Khmer Rouge attempts to strip the population of every shred of individual identity, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of her childhood— the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author’s extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyan is a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.

About this title

Review:

'In the Shadow of the Banyan is one of the most extraordinary and beautiful acts of storytelling I have ever encountered.... utterly heartbreaking and impossibly beautiful. There are some moments in this story that are among the most powerful in literature' - Chris Cleave, author of The Other Hand

'Often lyrical, a painful, personal record of Cambodia's holocaust.' - Kirkus, starred review

'An emotionally moving story... Ratner's contemplative treatment of her protagonist and the love shared among the family stands in stark contrast to the severe reality they faced each day to survive. Knowing that the story was culled from Ratner's experiences as a child brings a sense of immediacy to this heartrending novel likely to be appreciated by many readers.' - Library Journal

'In the Shadow of the Banyan is a truly important literary event' - Robert Olen Butler

'This stunning memorial expresses not just the terrors of the Khmer Rouge but also the beauty of what was lost. A hauntingly powerful novel imbued with the richness of old Cambodian lore, the devastation of monumental loss, and the spirit of survival' - Publishers Weekly, starred review

'How is it that so much of this bleak novel is full of beauty, even joy? ...What is remarkable, and honourable, here is the absence of anger, and the capacity seemingly infinite for empathy.' - New York Times

In the Shadow of the Banyan is a fascinating, moving work that offers a powerful leitmotif of optimism. Even when death is all about, there can be dreams, and these dreams stories, poems, legends, call them what you will may be precisely what one needs to survive while all that you hold dear is torn asunder. They saved Vaddey Ratner. Her dreams are now her gift to us - Sholto Byrnes, Independent on Sunday

'Historical breadth and a narrative momentum are the novel's greatest strengths.... As the great human drama unfurls in this sensitive and impassioned telling, it is impossible not to be moved by the spectre of famished victims in this ravaged land. In the tradition of novels such as Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, In the Shadow of the Banyan is a compelling saga of a country during a troubled time little understood in the west... Ratner is a fearless writer, and the novel explores important themes such as power, the relationship between love and guilt, and class. Most remarkably, it depicts the lives of characters forced to live in extreme circumstances, and investigates how that changes them. To read In the Shadow of the Banyan is to be left with a profound sense of being witness to a tragedy of history' - Guardian 29/9

Ratner shows us the beauty of her culture and landscape as only a child can see it, bursting with colour and hope, in a devastating and powerful novel --Daily Mail, 18/10

'This is an extraordinary debut, telling a fictionalised version of the author s own experience as a young child caught up in the brutality of Cambodia s Khmer Rouge years. It s narrated from the point of view of Raami, who is seven when civil war shatters her privileged life. Enduring forced labour, starvation and the deaths of her relatives, Raami seeks to cling to her memories. Bringing a savage piece of history vividly to life, this story is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' - Ceri Radford, Mail on Sunday --(Publishers Weekly, starred review)

In the Shadow of the Banyan is a fascinating, moving work that offers a powerful leitmotif of optimism. Even when death is all about, there can be dreams, and these dreams stories, poems, legends, call them what you will may be precisely what one needs to survive while all that you hold dear is torn asunder. They saved Vaddey Ratner. Her dreams are now her gift to us --Sholto Byrnes, Independent on Sunday --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'The book largely stirred me and almost made me gasp for breath in most places. You will know why when you read the book and discover its power, the writer's ability to weave a heartfelt and yet hopeful story... A beautiful read. Be prepared though to cry a little' - Vivek Tejuja --IBNLive

'This stunning memorial expresses not just the terrors of the Khmer Rouge but also the beauty of what was lost. A hauntingly powerful novel imbued with the richness of old Cambodian lore, the devastation of monumental loss, and the spirit of survival' --(Publishers Weekly, starred review)

About the Author:

Vaddey Ratner was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. In 1981 she arrived in the United States as a refugee not knowing English and ultimately went on to graduate summa cum laude from Cornell University. She lives in Potomac, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1451657706
• ISBN 13: 9781451657708
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 322