Author Lang Leav's new book is set in Australia in the 1990s and centers around a group of teens who are the children of refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge.
." The book is set in Australia in the 1990s and centers around a group of teens who are the children of refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge.Sydney, 2000
W H AT C OM E S F I R ST, the photograph or the memory? At the tender age of twenty, I am at a loss to find myself one mid- day, sitting on a dull red bench in the loud, bustling plaza of my hometown, Whitlam, a place I thought I’d long since left behind. In my hand is a photograph I had never seen, only imag- ined, one I wasn’t entirely sure existed until now.
It was the year 1997 and I was seventeen. We were coming to the end of November, having just completed our twelfth and fi- nal year at Whitlam High. Tin and I had spent the whole night cruising in my parents’ butterfly-blue Cressida, drifting through fog and starlight, until the darkness gradually disintegrated into gray, and we stopped by a deserted beach. There we sat with my back pressed up against him, with his arms circling my waist, legs concertinaed around my hips.
Under my breath, I began to hum a tune from The Sound of Music. As kids, Dad never let my brother, Yan, and me stay up past ten. It was only days ago I had seen the ending to that movie. Before that, there were no spiderlike insignias popping up like weeds, no Nazi flags polluting the proud Austrian vista, no desperate escape in the dark of night. Rolfe never betrayed Liesl. Like me, she had been sixteen going on seventeen, waiting for life to start. Maria and the captain were falling in love.
Stories of war were passed around so casually at our din- ner table, along with the thousand-year-old eggs and fermented bean curd. The furtive whispers between my parents of bur- ied gold and photographs left behind in the dead of night, as though someone were still listening in. This was the familiar, well-worn narrative of peasants and farmers caught in the cross fire of war.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
2 dead, several others injured in shooting at Galveston partyTwo people died and several others were injured in a shooting at a Galveston party on Sunday, the Galveston Police Department said.
Read more »
2 killed, others injured in shooting at Galveston house partyGalveston police are investigating an early Sunday morning shooting that left two people dead and more injured.
Read more »
Driver killed after crashing into multiple cars in Humboldt Park; 3 others hurtA car traveling at a high rate of speed crashed into multiple cars, leaving one person dead and three others hurt in Humboldt Park Saturday afternoon.
Read more »
Idaho woman serves others 'Lasagna Love,' promotes daily service before 9/11An Idaho Falls woman is calling for eastern Idahoans to do a daily act of service leading up to Sept. 11 as part of the National Day of Service movement.
Read more »
Community members continue to call for justice in Columbus Ta'Kiya Young, othersA large group gathered at Goodale Park Sunday night to talk about effecting change.
Read more »
Tencent, others begin enforcing China's new oversight move on appsMobile app stores in China run by Tencent Holdings , Xiaomi and others have started to bar app publishers from launching new apps if they do not make all the disclosures required by authorities, documents seen by Reuters showed.
Read more »