Heaven and Earth: When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

by Le Ly Hayslip (Author), JayWurts (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $3.25

  When Heaven and Earth Changed Places is the haunting memoir of the Vietnam war as seen through the eyes of a child who survived the horror. With the voice of a natural story-teller, Le Ly Hayslip tells the story of a young peasant girl's struggle to survive. Pressed into service by the Viet Cong, Hayslip was captured and tortured by government forces; then she was raped and almost murdered by her comrades in the VC. Later she lived with and loved several GIs. Finally, she married a kind-hearted American to escape the terror and insanity of the war. Once she arrived in the US in 1970, Hayslip lived the American dream to the hilt: she studied at night, worked during the day in an electronics factory and eventually became the owner of three houses and a restaurant near San Diego. Twice widowed and now unmarried, she has raised three sons. Meanwhile happiness proved elusive, the traumas of the war years lingering on in nightmare memories. In 1986 Le Ly went back to her homeland and was shocked to see the country and the people still profoundly scarred by the war. She subsequently sold the bulk of her property to start a foundation dedicated to building health clinics jointly staffed by Americans and Vietnamese.

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $3.63

  In this sequel to When Heaven and Earth Changed Places , the author continues her autobiographical saga of an Asian bride on America's golden shore , seeking to heal the wounds of war - and love - and discover the meaning of her life. The book recounts Le Ly's apprenticeship as a housewife in a land where kitchen sinks swallow food , and neighbourhood church ladies strive to save her heathen Buddhist soul . Her uncanny ability to attract colourful characters - from con artists to despondent suitors - only muddles her search for the true peace she hoped America would grant her. Yet beneath Le Ly's amusing view of America, her emotions are torn between the promise of her adopted country and the land - full of pain, but also of the pleasures of an ancient and beguiling way of life - she left behind.