Frank Thanh Nguyen

(see picture notes below) We camped out in that second-floor stairwell all night, making little nests for ourselves. The youngest children curled into their mothers, occasionally drinking water and eating dry instant noodles. I closed my eyes, and their voices weaved in and out of my dreams. I woke up, choking on stuffy air. The guard was no longer there. A small window cast eerie smoked silver light on some of the children’s faces. Uncle Hieu stood near the cracked ventilation shaft, watching the airport. The pop-pop-popping sound of the shelling continued low staccato hum. “Come see,” my uncle whispered, waving toward me. I stood up, dizzy and dehydrated. My chest ached from the way I’d been curled all night. When I reached the shaft, I stood up on the balls of my feet on the stairs and squinted to look through the arm-sized crack in the shaft. I gasped. The sky was a greenish gray color that didn’t seem like day or night. Long columns of smoke billowed everywhere. “The American Mari

I am so happy to share that my memoir, Rain On The Red Flag, has made it to the semifinals of the BookLife Prize! They will announce the finalists in each category on April 13, so wish me luck. But no matter what happens, the fact that my book was selected as a semifinalist is an honor and I am so grateful. Here is my book Critic's Report on display with the other semifinalists on the BookLife Prize page: Tchaikovsky. A White Butterfly. The Memory of Love. For seventeen-year-old city boy Frank Thanh Nguyen, the official end of the war in Vietnam marked the end of his freedom and the beginning of a harrowing adventure. Rain on the Red Flag details Thanh's remarkable journey, which begins on the day the Communists planted their flag in homes along his street in Saigon. Thanh's only chance of survival was to escape. During several escape attempts Thanh discovered parts of his country and its people that weren't known to him before. Later, Thanh was captured by the undercov

  Loved it! 😍 A compelling and absorbing memoir about one man's desperate journey to freedom after the fall of Saigon. No library should be without it. SYNOPSIS Tchaikovsky. A White Butterfly. The Memory of Love. For seventeen-year-old city boy Frank Thanh Nguyen, the official end of the war in Vietnam marked the end of his freedom and the beginning of a harrowing adventure. Rain on the Red Flag details Thanh's remarkable journey, which begins on the day the Communists planted their flag in homes along his street in Saigon. Thanh's only chance of survival was to escape. During several escape attempts Thanh discovered parts of his country and its people that weren't known to him before. Later, Thanh was captured by the undercover police. For four years, he was held in jails and labor camps, chained, and starved. Only his love for freedom, music, the memory of his girl, his family, and friendship with the other prisoners keeps him sane. When Thanh was finally set free an

Reviewed by  Alex Ndirangu  for Readers' Favorite. It was April 1975 when the South Vietnamese Army surrendered under the rapid advancement of the North Vietnamese. Streets in Saigon that once were filled with roadway noises and songs blasting from kitchen radios and market stands were now quiet and empty. For seventeen-year-old Thanh Nguyen, his future, freedom, and survival depended on his escape. A few years after the communists planted their flag in Saigon, Thanh's mother arranged for a connection to help him escape. But Thanh was captured, and for four years he endured unimaginable pain and suffering as a prisoner. When he is eventually released, he embarks on a voyage that could lead him to the very backyard of the enemy he is seeking to avoid. Read Rain on the Red Flag by Frank Thanh Nguyen to join him in his quest for freedom. This memoir is absorbing from the first to the last word. Thanh is a young man born into a large, loving family. He is a studious child whose onl

  RAIN ON THE RED FLAG - BOOK TRAILER