Local author, Marie-Madeleine Kenning, writes:
A book described as a memoir on the Khmer Rouge take over is not what you would expect from someone writing in Coddenham. Unless, of course, they happen to come from Cambodia and lived through that horrifying period, which is not my case.
To tell the truth, what I set out to write was something different. What I had in mind was to document the difficulties encountered by Cambodian grandparents whose children had gone off to find employment in Thailand and who found themselves having to look after young grandchildren 24/7, 365 days a year.
I had got to know the grandparents in the course of annual visits to the country following the twinning of our church, St Mary’s Ipswich, with two parishes in Northwest Cambodia. They willingly agreed to be interviewed. But on the way to their present difficulties lay something much worse, a traumatic turn of events that had turned their life upside down. They wanted me to know about what had happened to them and to let it be known.
Then the Khmer Rouge Came, however, is more than a set of first hand accounts. It is also the story of a developing relationship which offers insights into what it is like to meet and interact with people socially and culturally very different from you, but who, ultimately, have the same concerns and aspirations. People who will greet you with warmth, smile, joke and have questions about the photos you bring.
Title: Then The Khmer Rouge Came: Survivors’ Stories from Northwest Cambodia, a memoir.
Author: Marie-Madeleine Kenning
Contact details to use for pre-orders (no money needed now and local delivery is free): mariemadeleinekenning@gmail.com
Expected date of publication: End of Jun, price £14.99
Profits from the sale of the book will be donated to organisations supporting those in need in Cambodia.
This sounds really fascinating. I’m sure you will have lots of interest.