The ETG Book Club . Cambodia

This modern classic was once a beautiful account of a distant place: French Indochina in its twilight. Now it is also the story of a lost world. Norman Lewis travelled through Saigon to Phnom Penh, and then via Angkor Wat on to Laos. Every person Lewis meets – monks, farmers, royalty, colonialists – become important in his or her own right; the writer's keen eye for telling detail puts the reader right beside him.

From a childhood survivor of the Cambodian genocide under the regime of Pol Pot, this is a riveting narrative of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her family, and their triumph of spirit. Harrowing yet hopeful, Loung's powerful story is an unforgettable account of a family shaken and shattered, yet miraculously sustained by courage and love in the face of unspeakable brutality.

Haing Ngor, a young doctor in his native Cambodia, saw his life transformed when Pol Pot took over his country in 1975. This memoir of life under the Khmer Rouge until he finally escaped and resettled in the US is a searing account of a country's descent into hell. He spent the rest of this life helping fellow refugees to settle in the US and was awarded an Academy Award for his portrayal of a Cambodian translator in a film about the Killing Fields. His story in this book can be described as both beautiful and terrible, gentle and terrifying.

Bizot, a French anthropologist, was the only westerner to be captured by the Khmer Rouge who was subsequently released. The first half of this book details his 3-month ordeal in 1971, the second is his account of how, 4 years later, he became the official negotiator at the French embassy dealing directly with the Khmer Rouge.

An excellent and moving account of the 5 years in the 1970s that the author spent living in Cambodia (and Vietnam). He describes the beauty of the Mekong landscape and a people at the mercy of the brutal Pol Pot regime. Jon Swain's love of South East Asia and its people, and his sorrow at the losses they suffered shines through.