Beauty in the Escape

Hailing from a small village in the beautiful land of Vietnam, young Lena enjoys living out her simple existence. Her world revolves around her grandma, siblings, school, and all her village friends, until one day, when a detonating bomb announced the beginning of a devastation that would go down in history—The Vietnam War. Having never known her father and being estranged from her mother, who resides in the US with her American husband, she soon finds herself fighting the treacherous waters of the sea in a small boat, seeking refuge from the war with a daunting task glowering down at her—starting a new life in a foreign land, under the care of her estranged mother no less. Lena recounts all her doubts, insecurities, and challenges, including her near brush-ins with death itself in this book, hoping to motivate others through her story of sheer grit and determination to survive all odds and build a better life.