Bamboo Promise: Prison Without Walls

Cambodia is a country with beautiful temples and art, and steeped in the Buddhist religion. Despite this, the once-civilized society turned to violence and proceeded to destroy itself. People betrayed their parents, their children, and their friends. In the process, they extinguished everything that represented the truth and beauty of Cambodia.

How does an individual withstand such experiences and resume life after having fought for a single grain of rice and witnessed unbelievable cruelties, such as mothers crushing their babies, young children willing to kill for a morsel of food, and the entire decimation of normal urban life? Bamboo Promise is author Vicheara Houn's story of her survival. This is the remarkable and intensely personal autobiography of a woman raised as the sheltered and privileged only child of a prominent Cambodian family. As a young bride, she and her entire family were swept up in the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s. Houn recounts how she adapted and survived in the harsh killing fields of the Khmer Rouge terrorists in this compelling narrative.

Although the author survived many horrors, Bamboo Promise is not a horror story. It is the story of the evolution of a human spirit as she endured a tumultuous upbringing and an unspeakable tragedy. The insights into life after Pol Pot's defeat and Cambodia's subjection by the Communist Vietnamese are particularly unique. Bamboo Promise is also a story of hope, as Houn found lasting happiness in the United States.