Lucky Child

In the bestselling First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung told the story of years of hunger, violence and loss at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. But Loung was the lucky child - the sibling Eldest Brother chose to take with him to America. Arriving in America as a ten-year-old refugee, Loung must come to understand life in a nation of peace: that the Fourth of July fireworks are not bombs and that she doesn't have to hide food in her bed to make sure she has enough to eat. But Cambodia and Chou, the older sister Loung left behind, are always in her thoughts. In Lucky Child, Loung describes, with candor and grace, what it is like to survive in a new culture while overcoming the memories of genocide and the deep scars of war. Loung also re-creates Chou's life as a genocide survivor left behind in rural Cambodia and recounts her heartfelt reunion with Chou fifteen years after they last saw each other.