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'No Man's Land:' Love, Loss in Vietnam

No Man's Land is the story of love and loss in postwar Vietnam. Michael Sullivan profiles its author, dissident Duong Thu Huong.

The Vietnamese government has banned her books, jailed her for a time and threatened her with worse, she says. But she refuses to accept exile.

"I stay here to be a thorn in their side," the author says. "Because if there is no such thorn, they have too easy a time. My only weapon against this government is my utmost scorn, and I spit in their faces. It's that simple."

Duong Thu Huong's view is not often heard in this one-party, communist nation where the vast majority are careful not to say anything in front of a microphone -- much less anything critical.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Michael Sullivan is NPR's Senior Asia Correspondent. He moved to Hanoi to open NPR's Southeast Asia Bureau in 2003. Before that, he spent six years as NPR's South Asia correspondent based in but seldom seen in New Delhi.