Read more
An American jet fighter pilot is shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. Twenty years later, his body is found. An American team travels to the jungles of Laos to recover the remains of the pilot for burial at home. But upon arriving, they must deal with corrupt government officials, a police chief out on a personal vendetta and suspicious, reluctant villagers who believe it is their sacred duty to conceal the remains of the pilot from them.
"The American Ghost" immerses the reader in the world of the Laoloum people and the jungles of Laos, not only bringing that world alive, but also bringing it home. In American Ghost, the fruits of war are peace and we learn how the memory of a combatant and a machine of war can become the instrument of understanding and friendship between two enemies twenty years later.
About the author
SOMSY CAMVAN was born in 1954, a son of Khmu tribe parents and horse traders. Somsy spent the early time of his life in a small village in north Laos. His father sent him to live with a relative in the capital city Vientiane in his late teens to receive an education. After finishing his training in Communications, in 1974, he worked for the government-owned newspaper, "The People's Voice" He was held for questioning in 1979 for suspicions of collaborating with the anti-Government group. Fearing for his safety, Somsy escaped to Canada via Thailand in the late 1980s, where he has been living since in a quiet country home, in the province of Quebec. His work of historical fictions include "The American Ghost" and "The Other Side of Mekong".
