In this haunting memoir of the Vietnam war, Le Ly Hayslip describes the experience of an innocent victim whose childhood was dominated by devastating violence and conflicts between the teachings of her culture and the realities of war. When U.S. helicopters landed in her village, Le Ly Hayslip was twelve years old. The youngest child in a close-knit Buddhist family, she survived rape, imprisonment and torture by South Vietnamese soldiers. Sentenced to death by the Viet Cong, she ultimately fled to the U.S. with her children, to find peace and "choose life." Nancy Kwan's reading tells of the author's reunion with family and homeland in 1986, painting a striking picture of a noble, optimistic woman.