IN THE SHADOW OF THE BANYAN by Vaddey Ratner

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In the Shadow of the Banyan

by Vaddey Ratner (Goodreads Author)

4.04 of 5 stars 4.04  ·   rating details  ·  3,908 ratings  ·  911 reviews

For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Soon the family’s world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus.

Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labor, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood—the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival.

Displaying the author’s extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyan is testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.(less)

Hardcover, 322 pages

Published August 7th 2012 by Simon & Schuster

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11/22/63 by STEPHEN KING

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed forever.

If you had the chance to change the course of history, would you?
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The Killer Angels tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg.  On July 1, 1863, the army of Northern Virginia, or Confederate Army and the Army of the potomac, or Union Army fought the largest battle of the American Civil War.  When the battle ended, 51,000 men were dead, wounded or missing.   All the characters in this novel are based on real historical figures.  They include Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army,  General James Longstreet,  Lee's second in command; and Union Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, who participated in one of the most famous segments of the Battle of Gettysburg, the fighting on Little Round Top.