Book a Trip Abroad, no passport required! Travel the world through books. Join us on the fourth Tuesday of every month as we read books from different countries across the globe. August's selection is In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. Read below for a brief summary:

You are about to read an extraordinary story, a PEN Hemingway Award finalist “rich with history, mythology, folklore, language and emotion.” 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 the Khmer Rouge attempts to strip the population of every shred of individual identity, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of her 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 a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.

Copies of the book will be available for pickup at the Beech Street Center (266 Beech Street Belmont). Questions? Email Logan at lmanchester@minlib.net.