Award-winning crime writer Libby Fischer Hellmann takes readers back in time to 1968 Vietnam in this excellent historical novel that shows what the war looked like from the point of view of the citizens trying to survive against brutal fighting.

Tam and Mai are washing clothes in the river near their Vietnam village and return in time to watch soldiers wipe out their family and neighbors. With no money, food or survival skills, they flee to Saigon. Mai cuts her wrist trying to fish for the first time, and Tam doesn’t know how she will keep herself and her sister safe even when they get to the city. A kind man and his son take them via boat, and eventually they find work in a restaurant for very little pay.

"Libby Fischer Hellmann brings Vietnam to vivid life in a story about a period rarely talked about in historical fiction.... A BEND IN THE RIVER will stay with readers long after they have turned the last page."

Tired of living in a dirty refugee camp, Mai decides to work as a GI bar girl. In this job, she can dress nicely and flirt for better wages than they earned slaving away in a restaurant. She tries to learn English and seizes the opportunity to move into an apartment. Tam is disappointed and says she will cut Mai out of her life.

Tam finds a doctor who invites her to live in an apartment instead of the muddy camp where she has been trying to make a go of it. Dr. Hằng encourages her to join the Viet Cong so she can channel her grief and rage into fighting. Before long, she finds herself driving trucks through dangerous territory. She is forced into the tunnels because of the danger involved and falls in love with one of the female officers in the rebellious group. When her lover is killed, Tam is kicked out.

Meanwhile, Mai quickly becomes the head girl at the bar, showing others how to sell drinks and charm soldiers for higher pay. She falls in love with an American soldier and believes that he will take her back home with him. Instead, he leaves her pregnant and alone after he returns. Other soldiers from his unit try to befriend her, but morale is low among them, and they would rather drink than visit with Vietnamese women.

Both ladies find themselves in the increasingly desperate and dangerous city, trying to find work. Mai resorts to jobs that she never thought she could do to keep herself and her son alive. She becomes the mistress of a kind man who eventually will help them get to the U.S. Tam manages to hide and also make her way to the U.S. Mai builds a life and a business for herself and her son outside of Chicago, but she always wonders about her sister. Their paths will cross again.

Libby Fischer Hellmann brings Vietnam to vivid life in a story about a period rarely talked about in historical fiction. While the journeys for Mai and Tam are filled with struggle and hardship, each evokes hope and resilience. A BEND IN THE RIVER will stay with readers long after they have turned the last page.