Vaddey Ratner
1 SeriesVaddey Ratner is a Cambodian-American author and Khmer Rouge genocide survivor whose novel, "In the Shadow of the Banyan," became a New York Times bestseller. The book was a finalist for several prestigious awards and was selected for the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program in 2015-2016. Her works have been translated into twenty languages.
In the Shadow of the Banyan follows young Raami as her idyllic childhood in royal Phnom Penh is shattered by Cambodia's civil war. Her father's early morning return brings news of the conflict, soon forcing the family into a chaotic exodus. Amidst the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror, Raami endures the loss of loved ones, starvation, and forced labor. Clinging to her father's tales of myths and poetry, she struggles to survive in a world where memory itself is dangerous. Vaddey Ratner's novel poignantly captures Raami's fight for life and hope against overwhelming odds.
