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Author of Beyond the Rice Paddies says THANK YOU to American soldiers by donating half of her royalties to Veterans

TUCSON, Ariz. – In Beyond the Rice Paddies, author Linda West shares her haunting childhood memories of the Vietnam War.

Public experience and knowledge of the Vietnam War has been filtered through the eyes of veterans, journalists, and photographers, but never has the public seen the war from the perspective of an innocent child. This book is the captivating story of one little girl’s experiences resulting directly from the Vietnam War and America’s involvement. 

In Beyond the Rice Paddies, a young Vietnamese girl is trying to live a normal life despite the civil war waging on around her. The fighting threatens her village’s way of life and leaves her feeling frightened. However, the arrival of the American soldiers brings her comfort and ultimately shapes her future. 

Through her memories and in the voice of a small child, the author hopes to spark moments of reflection in others and to honor those who fought for her survival. An inspiring testimony, Beyond the Rice Paddies takes readers to a different time, place, and culture, where they will observe events that affected and changed the world forever.

Linda West, whose birth name is Tran Thi Bach Yen Oanh, was born in Vietnam in 1960. From age 4 to 9 1/2, she was raised by her gentle and doting paternal grandmother in the village of Bien Hoa, which did not escape the dangers of her country’s civil war.

After her mother married an American soldier, she reclaimed Linda and her two half-brothers, and the family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1970. But because Linda’s stepfather was in the military, the family moved frequently around the country and overseas.

As a young woman, Linda’s personal life was turbulent. In the mid-1980s, she was homeless with three young children in Albuquerque, N.M., after she left an abusive husband. Though she had to turn to social services to feed and shelter her children, she was determined to provide them a better life.

Linda then discovered her forte--sales and connecting with people. She landed and excelled at sales positions in various industries, which allowed her to leave the welfare rolls behind forever.

In 1991, Linda moved to Tucson, Ariz.

A few years later, she began having recurring dreams that her beloved grandmother, Ba Noi, had passed away. Troubled, Linda journeyed back to Vietnam in 1995 to reunite with the woman who raised her in war-torn Vietnam.

During that visit, childhood memories resurfaced, prompting Linda to begin writing a journal about her upbringing. But she soon put down the journal after returning to Tucson, as a busy and successful career in real estate and her personal life consumed her time.

Linda did not pick up the journal again until 2004, shortly after she opened her own real estate agency, which represents not only home sellers and buyers but also local home builders. The escalation of the war in Iraq, a chance discussion with a wounded Vietnam War veteran and a friend’s gift of books written by a Buddhist priest exiled from Vietnam during the 1970s again pushed memories of Linda’s childhood in Southeast Asia to the surface.

The journal became Linda’s self-published childhood memoir, Beyond the Rice Paddies.

In writing the memoir, Linda discovered how fortunate she had been to survive a war and be blessed with three healthy children whom she was able to provide college educations by herself. So she is expressing her appreciation by donating half of her royalties to the veterans of the Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan wars. Linda also plans to use another portion of her royalties to refurbish or rebuild her former school in Bien Hoa, Vietnam.

For more information, email the author at lindafwest@msn.com. Beyond the Rice Paddies is available for sale online at Amazon.com, BookSurge.com, Beyondthericepaddies.com and through additional wholesale and retail channels worldwide.  

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