In the Shadow of the Banyan - Softcover

Vaddey Ratner

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1849837600 ISBN 13: 9781849837606

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK, 2013

Synopsis

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 she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labour, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of 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 testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.

About this title

Review:

'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 is 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 --Ceri Radford, Mail on Sunday

About the Author:

Vaddey Ratner was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. After four years, having endured forced labor, starvation, and near execution, she escaped while many of her family members perished. In 1981, she arrived in the U.S. as a refugee not knowing English and, in 1990, went on to graduate as her high school class valedictorian. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Cornell University, where she specialized in Southeast Asian history and literature. In recent years she traveled and lived in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, writing and researching, which culminated in her debut novel, In the Shadow of the Banyan. She lives in Potomac, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1849837600
• ISBN 13: 9781849837606
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400