Alexander: A US Army deserter engaged in the dark business of trading women.
Hanh: A girl trapped in poverty who believes Alexander is the answer to her prayers.
Phuc: A man who gambled everything to save his family and must now pay his debts.
From a society torn apart by war comes a heart-warming tale of salvation and redemption.
Set in post-Vietnam, Lucy Cruickshanks debut novel The Trader of Saigon is a tale about how life has changed for the three main characters, Alexander, Hanh and Phuc, since the war has ended as they do what they can to survive.
Unable to return home to the US since he deserted the army, Alexander is now living an assumed life as a Russian business man who befriends vulnerable young girls and then lures them away to be sold.
Hanh has become the main breadwinner of the family, even though she is still young, as her father was killed during the war and her mother is sick so it's no wonder that her head is turned as to what life could be like when Alexander starts paying her attention...
Phuc lost his business as a result of the war and since then he's been doing whatever he can to provide for his family but in desperation he makes a terrible error in judgement that has severe repercussions for this family, can he resolve the situation before it is too late?
Other than Hanh, I didn't really warm to any of the other characters in the book, even though I knew that they were only doing what they were doing to survive, although both Alexander and Phuc redeemed themselves a little towards the end of the book.
The Trader of Saigon was a bit of a strange one for me, I found it uncomfortable reading at times because of the subject matters but at the same time I wanted to keep reading to see how it all panned out for them as the three storylines started to interlink. An interesting debut so I cannot wait to see what the author has in store for us next.
I received a copy of this eBook via NetGalley to review.
No comments:
Post a Comment