OK book with a decent plot. The book follows Dieu Lan, a woman from a landowner family escaping violent farmer mobs during the North Vietnam land reform with 5 children in tow in the 50s and Houng, Dieu Lan's teenage granddaughter living in the 70s around the end of the Vietnam War. There isn't much discussion on the how the conflicts transpired and more focus is put on how the people suffered during the wars. The novel is excessively sentimental and melodramatic (think: characters storming off during a quarrel and not talking to each other - they do that a lot in here) and it dilutes the emotional impact the novel is trying to give.