The Lotus Eaters
“If you have wondered what it’s like to be a combat photographer and what kind of toll such brutal work exacts on the soul, you must read The Lotus Eaters, Tatjana Soli’s beautiful and harrowing new novel. Its characters are unforgettable, as real as the historical events in which they’re enmeshed.”
Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs, and That Old Cape Magic
It’s 1975, and the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As city begins to fall in earnest, two lovers make their way through the chaos to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave not only of a war she is addicted to, but of a devastated country she has come to love. Nguyen Pran Linh, the man who loves her, must deal with his own conflicted loyalties, both of heart and homeland. As they race through the streets, they play out a drama of love and betrayal that began twelve years before with their mentor, the larger-than-life war correspondent, Sam Darrow, who was once Helen’s infuriating love and fiercest competitor, as he was Linh’s secret protector and truest friend. As the sun sets on their life in Saigon, Helen and Linh struggle against both their inner demons and the ghosts of the past, in this sweeping epic that illuminates the wrenching horrors of war, the dangerous narcotic of obsession, and the redemptive power of love.
Praise