First published 2017
Teera leaves America and travels to Cambodia for the first time since fleeing as a child refugee twenty-five years earlier. She carries a letter from someone called the Old Musician who claims he knew her father in a Khmer Rouge prison before he vanished. In Phnom Penh, she discovers a country where victims and perpetrators of violence still live together, trying to rebuild their nation. She meets a young doctor who opens her heart and begins confronting memories she buried long ago. The Old Musician plays ceremonial music at a temple and waits for her arrival. He must tell her about his connection to her parents, how they all believed the Khmer Rouge would create a democratic society, and what really happened to her father. As Teera prepares to face the truth about her family's past, both she and the Old Musician must reckon with loss, survival, and the possibility of forgiveness.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, cultural, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Cambodia, Phnom Penh, America
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
336 pages · Kindle Edition · Atria Books
Content warnings: violence