This memoir is based upon the recollections of a survivor of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge genocide, responsible for the deaths of 4 million citizens between the years of 1975 and 1980. While the storyline has been preserved, license has been taken to ‘flesh out’ the story with the introduction of characters and scenes based upon personal research into the conditions – social and cultural – which existed before during and after the government’s endeavor to wipe out the nation’s historical timeline and revert to “Year Zero.” The role of the Vietnam War and the spread of US operations into Cambodia as well as the US intervention in the overthrow of Cambodia’s leader are investigated as ‘flashpoint’ events which lay the groundwork for Pol Pot’s regime.

Throughout this short story, the heroine’s memories are restored in their totality and augmented with research into documents on Cambodia. These include the Cambodian Tribunal documents, Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Project; the Digitial Archive of Cambodia’s Holocaust Survivors; and the Cambodian Genocide Group.

Additional research into Cambodian customs, ceremonies, family structure, religion, education and the psychology of oppressed people was also conducted.

A complete bibliography is available at the end of the book.

Next: The Rise and Fall of the Khmer Rouge