Robert Carmichael
An idea that grips me and that tells a story that I feel HAS to be written.
That was the case with my first book, the true story of a daughter searching for her father in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge's catastrophic 1975-79 rule of Cambodia in which 2 million people died, one in four of the population.
Having the story of the daughter - her name is Neary - allowed me to frame the book through that family's search for answers and for justice, and at the same time recount what had happened to Cambodia and how the country is recovering.
In this case, I felt it was also important to use the story of one of the Khmer Rouge's many victims, to make people aware of one person's life from that mass of 2 million anonymous dead. In many ways the story of Ket and his French family stands for the stories of millions of other Cambodians.
That was the case with my first book, the true story of a daughter searching for her father in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge's catastrophic 1975-79 rule of Cambodia in which 2 million people died, one in four of the population.
Having the story of the daughter - her name is Neary - allowed me to frame the book through that family's search for answers and for justice, and at the same time recount what had happened to Cambodia and how the country is recovering.
In this case, I felt it was also important to use the story of one of the Khmer Rouge's many victims, to make people aware of one person's life from that mass of 2 million anonymous dead. In many ways the story of Ket and his French family stands for the stories of millions of other Cambodians.
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