Le Colonial: A Novel Book

In France in 1774, three men board a ship bound for Annam-the exotic land in South China that is now known as Vietnam. Led by a charismatic prelate (based on a legendary priest in Vietnamese history), the men's mission is to convert the primitive heathens to Christianity.What they discover in Annam is not the peasants and rice paddies they'd expected, but a culture both more sophisticated and more violently unstable than they imagined.Their dreams of colonial glory disintegrate quickly as the men are embroiled in civil war, terrorized by warlords on horseback, and overwhelmed by floods, famine, and other catastrophes.These men who have set out to show the Annamese a new way of life have to wonder whether they are the ones who are really being converted. Master storyteller Nguyen weaves a shimmering tapestry of swords and silk.Drawing from a richly layered history, LE COLONIAL is an unforgettable and romantic epic about faith, passion, and the perils of ambition.Read More