A Dragon Child: Reflections of a Daughter of Annam in America

About the Book

A Dragon Child: Reflections of a Daughter of Annam in America is the story of a Vietnamese Catholic raised within the structure of the French colonial system. Her upbringing was somewhat privileged as the daughter of a provincial administrator in the central highlands of Vietnam. As a child, and later as a young woman, she embraced French culture and aspired to French ideals. She was educated at a French boarding school for the children of the elite. Subsequently she received a degree in French teaching from the University of Saigon and became a lycee teacher and administrator.

In 1975, she left on one of the last military planes accompanied by her four children and entered a new life as a refugee in the U.S. She ultimately resettled in Western Massachusetts. She then went back to school and obtained her Ph.D. in Francophone literature. After seeing to her children's education she began her academic career and started to teach French in the Five College academic community. She has fulfilled the "American dream" as have her children. In the process she has rediscovered her cultural roots and has helped others to negotiate the same path.

About the Author

Lucy Nguyen-Hong-Nhiem, former administrator and teacher of French in Vietnam, is adjunct professor of Asian Languages & Literatures at the University of Massachusetts, Anherst.

She has co-edited with Joel M. Halpern, The Far East Comes Near, autobiographical accounts of Southeast Asian students in America.

She lives in Western Massachusetts.