Ten-year old Ha plants papaya in the yard of the house she shares with her mother and 3 older brothers. She samples the sweets at the market stalls, celebrates the lunar new year of Tet, and proudly recites the calculations she’s learned in school. The year is 1975, the place is Saigon. When the Vietnam War reaches her village, she and her family must leave, leaving behind her beloved home and her father who has been missing-in-action for 9 years. Boarding a ship and leaving her war-torn Vietnam behind, Ha, along with her mother and brothers, hope to find a more secure future in America. Determined, Ha begins school in the foreign world of Alabama with its confusing language, dull food and unfamiliar landscape. Experience Ha’s year of loss and learning as she leaves behind one life to begin another.
Susan
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