No Man River

The story of a northern village during the American War in Vietnam, where all the young men have left to fight, and the loved ones left behind labour through grief and yearning to build a new society.

Undeniably one of Vietnam's most beloved stories, Dương Hư_x1EDB_ng's No Man River is a novel about the homefront during the American War and its aftermath. Awarded the Vietnam Writers' Association's most prestigious prize in 1991—the same year B_x1EA3_o Ninh's The Sorrow of War was published—it has been translated into many languages, and twice been adapted into film.

It tells the story of a village in northern Vietnam that must send its men to fight, but at the same time continue the communist revolution's transformation of their society. An injured but idealistic veteran of the war against the French named Vạn hopes to create a modern society in which everyone will live in harmony, but first he must overcome the superstition and prejudices still held by his community. He must also keep secret his love for the village beauty, Nhàn—the widow of his dearest fallen comrade.

Complications arise when his nephew marries Nhàn's daughter, Hạnh, just before he leaves to fight in the South. Parents long for the return of their sons. Wives and children anxiously await the return of their husbands and fathers.

Resisting the socialist revolutionary notion that war is glorious or heroic, No Man River presents an innovative portrait of wartime and postwar village life that tells the story of the countless Vietnamese who carried not only the burden of war, but also all the tribulations of forging a new society during the most tumultuous time in modern Vietnamese history.