Last of the Annamese

Hardcover $10.18
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Overview

A novel that transcends the limitations of “war fiction,” Tom Glenn’s Last of the Annamese is a book that examines the choices forced upon those who fight wars, those who flee them, and those who survive them.

The rare novel that eloquently describes the burden of loss, Last of the Annamese evokes a haunting portrait of the lives of those trapped in Saigon in April 1975 as the city, and surrounding country, fell to North Vietnamese forces. Drawing on his own experiences in the war, Tom Glenn tells the tale of Chuck Griffin, a retired Marine doing intelligence work for the United States in Vietnam; his friend, Thanh, an incorruptible South Vietnamese Marine colonel; and Tuyet, the regal woman whom both men love. As the grim fate of South Vietnam becomes more apparent, and the flight from Saigon begins, Tuyet must make a somber choice to determine the fate of her son Thu, herself, and those she loves. During the fall of Saigon as the North Vietnamese overwhelm the South, Tom Glenn paints a vivid portrait of the high drama surrounding the end of a war, end of a city, and end of a people. Reaching its harrowing conclusion during the real Operation Frequent Wind, a refugee rescue effort approved by President Gerald Ford, Last of the Annamese offers a glimpse at a handful of people caught in an epic conflagration that was one of modern history’s darkest chapters.

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"The staggering scope of the final months before the fall of Saigon are hard to grasp. The best way to relay the truth of a situation so immense is to make a reader feel it, to rely not on statistics or borders, but one person's experience. With Last of the Annamese, Tom Glenn accomplishes this, inviting the reader to share in the pains (and limited pleasures) of the final days before the fall of Saigon." —Baltimore Style
Named 2018 Runner-Up for the Eric Hoffer Book Award for fiction.
"Every character is painted with only a few strokes with such talent that you know these people, or think you do. And yet, none are cliched or simple. You can smell the fish sauce, the streets, the flowers, the air. You can feel the black smoke from crashing planes, the humidity of the place, the darkness of the interiors, the whisper of silk ao dais. You can feel the grief of all that is lost, but it is never a grief too heavy to read. In a Shakespearean way, the heavy emotion is off stage, implied with subtle writing. Glenn describes emotions that his characters go through, but he does so with spare strokes and thorough knowledge. Above all, this beautiful book shows that the trauma of war is the great equalizer for those directly involved." —The VVA Veteran
"This is a novel of healing and redemption. Glenn makes a determined effort to throw off his nagging psycho-emotional damage from the War. He was seriously injured by his service, but he hasn't quit. His well-crafted characters reflect his own perseverance and resilience." —The Internet Review of Books
"As author, peacemaker, and a philanthropist helping to mend the wounds of war for U.S veterans returning from Vietnam, I found Last of the Annamese by Tom Glenn a brilliant piece of work on healing. His story, with twists and turns, is a must read!"  —LE LY HAYSLIP, author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and The Child of War, Woman of Peace
"Tom Glenn has poured a broken heart and a grieving soul into the pages of Last of the Annamese, a novel of love and war and tragedy set amid the fall of South Vietnam and the capture of Saigon in those dark days of April 1975. His fiction is carefully woven between the threads of historical fact that ring true to one who was there in the beginning and in the end, just as Tom Glenn was. I found it impossible to put this book down before reading the last page."—Joseph L. Galloway, coauthor of We Were Soldiers Once...and Young and We Are Soldiers Still
"Last of the Annamese is all the more vivid, thrilling, and moving because Tom Glenn experienced many of the heartbreaking events he evokes so poignantly. He has also provided us with a thought-provoking reminder of the consequences of becoming deeply enmeshed in another nation's conflicts." —THURSTON CLARKE, author of The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America
"Passion, intrigue, and espionage intertwine during the fall of Saigon in The Last of the Annamese. Tom Glenn's novel is a proverbial bookend companion to Graham Greene's The Quiet American, and a poignant study of the U.S. relationship with Vietnam."
"Through Glenn's characters, the reader is called to consider the wider conflict and also ethical and interpersonal dilemmas as the American staff evacuate."—Stephen Phillips, author of Proximity and The Recipient's Son