Ghosts in the Forest

by Corinne Purtill

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In 2004, a group of thirty-four people walked out of a Southeast Asian jungle and told the world they had fled fighting in Cambodia. Their story rested on a mistaken belief: the conflict they described had ended a quarter century earlier. Journalist Corinne Purtill met these families as they tried to rejoin ordinary life. Years later she returned to Cambodia to uncover what really happened during their time hidden in the forest. The truth proved far darker and more tangled than the account they first gave, involving hardship, isolation, loyalty, grim decisions and killing. The book looks at the deep human longing for family and connection, and at what it truly means to survive.

Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of this
Themes
familyfamilyMore like thisLess of thissurvivalsurvivalMore like thisLess of this
Setting
AsiaAsiaMore like thisLess of thisCambodiaCambodiaMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult

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Liked Ghosts in the Forest? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Ghosts in the Forest. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. A Short History of Cambodia: From Empire to Survival John Tully · 2006 Shares nonfiction, Cambodia, Asia
  2. The Lost Executioner: A Journey to the Heart of the Killing Fields Nic Dunlop · 2005 Shares Cambodia, nonfiction, Asia
  3. On the Burning Edge: A Fateful Fire and the Men Who Fought It Kyle Dickman · 2015 Shares nonfiction, history
  4. Bodies of Light Sarah Moss · 2014 Shares history
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“If you want more of the same (history about family), start with these.”

  1. Stay Alive, My Son Pin Yathay, John Man · 1987
  2. The Master of Confessions: The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer Thierry Cruvellier · 2014
  3. Cambodia: A Report from a Stricken Land Henry Kamm · 1998
  4. A History Of Cambodia David P. Chandler · 1983

“If it was the Cambodia that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Golden Bones Sichan Siv · 2008
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  3. The Tears of My Soul: The Story of a Boy Who Survived the Cambodian Killing Fields Sokreaksa S. Himm, Jan Greenough · 2003
  4. When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution Elizabeth Becker · 1986

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

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  4. The Americano : The Last American Rebel In Castro's Cuba Aran Shetterly · 2007

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