Child of war, woman of peace

Le Ly Hayslip's extraordinary memoir of growing up in a war-ravaged Vietnam garnered high praise for the "passion and suspense" (San Francisco Chronicle) of its "searing and human account of Vietnam's destruction" (front page, New York Times Book Review). Now, Ms. Hayslip continues her remarkable autobiography, arriving in the United States as a young bride wise in the ways of war yet charmingly naive about the habits of "giant, round-eyed Americans." Told in exquisite. Detail, Child of War, Woman of Peace is, in many ways, a timeless immigrant's tale. Ms. Hayslip recounts with humor and goodwill her apprenticeship as U.S. housewife in a land where kitchen sinks "swallow food," and neighborhood church ladies strive to save her "heathen Buddhist soul." Her uncanny ability to attract colorful characters - from con artists to despondent suitors - only muddles her search for the true peace she hoped America would grant her. Yet beneath Le. Ly's amusing view of America, her emotions are torn between the promise of her adopted country and the land - full of pain, but also the pleasures of an ancient and beguiling way of life - she left behind. "Home" is more than a place, she discovers: it is a state of grace. Le Ly's rediscovery of herself, as well as her quest to harmoniously join the two poles of her universe, is a story all Americans should read, and no reader will forget.