It is Hanoï in 1954 and the war in Indochina is raging. Mai, a young Annamese girl, falls in love with an exiled French soldier from Brittany.

A border in a Catholic convent, Mai looks after wounded French soldiers. It is there that she meets Yann, shortly after he turns 18 years old. To prevent him from being sent back to the front, the young girl uses all possible subterfuges. Her behaviour stirs the attention and curiosity of the soldier.

The day of the festival of Têt (New Year), Mai refuses to marry the man that her father, a prominent judge, has chosen for her. Her stubborness puts her beyond the pale of her family . Mai and Yann marry in haste on the edge of a beautiful lake, the day before Yann returns to the front.

Hoai Huong Nguyen reveals the horror, the Dien Bien Phu hills, heaven-on-earth turned into a mass grave where Yann is fighting. In Hanoï, Mai will go to hell and back to save Yann.

This is a striking first novel which revisits the greatest myths of Eastern and Western cultures. A true and deeply human story, void of caricature. It is written in a language of suggestion, and set with delicate haikus.