When civil war in Cambodia erupts, 12-year-old Dara and her family are forced out of their home and flee to the Thai-Cambodian border, where they find food, refuge and friends. But this security is short-lived as fighting and shelling hit the camp. In the ensuing chaos, Dara is separated from her family, and it will take everything that she has and more to bring the people she loves back together again.

About the Marshall Cavendish Classics series

This title is being reissued under the new Marshall Cavendish Classics: Literary Fiction series, which seeks to introduce some of the best works of Singapore literature to a new generation of readers. Some have been evergreen titles over the years, others have been unjustly neglected. 

Authors in the series include: Catherine Lim, Claire Tham, Colin Cheong, Michael Chiang, Minfong Ho, Ovidia Yu and Philip Jeyaretnam.

The award-winning writer Minfong Ho was born in Rangoon, Burma, and raised in Singapore and Bangkok. She then studied in Taiwan and at Cornell University in New York, where she started writing to combat homesickness. In her novels, Ho presents realistic depictions of her native Southeast Asia. Her works have garnered international accolades and awards. In 1997 she was awarded the Cultural Medallion, the highest arts accolade in Singapore.