The best selling book in the history of modern Vietnam, Give Me a Ticket to Childhood has been nothing short of a sensation in its home country: it has sold over 350,000 copies and has gone through thirty-five printings. This, the novel’s first appearance outside Vietnam, marks the arrival, in English, of a hugely appealing and engaging author. The story of a man looking back on his life, Give Me a Ticket to Childhood captures the texture of childhood in all of its richness. As we learn of the small miracles and tragedies that made up the narrator’s life—the misadventures and the misdeeds—we meet his long-lost friends, none of whom can forget how rich their lives once were. And even if Nguyen Nhat Anh can’t take us back to our own childhoods, he captures those innocent times with a great deftness. A fable that will charm adults and move children, Give Me a Ticket to Childhood is sure to capture the hearts of American readers.
