Author(s): Mandaley Perkins

Biographies & Memoirs

A haunting memoir of a young man growing up during the years of French rule in Vietnam.

Michel L'Herpiniere is a teenager when he arrives in Indochina in the years before World War II. He immediately falls in love with the country and the people, but gradually becomes aware that what is an idyll for the French is not seen the same way by the local population. Michel's story is inevitably entwined with the history of Vietnam in those years: the French response to the Viet Minh nationalist movement (Michel's high school history teacher is Professor Giap, later to become a leading figure in the Viet Cong), then the war and the Japanese occupation, and the refusal of the US to aid 'a colonial regime'. Michel is imprisoned by the Japanese, and defies curfews in the darkened streets of Hanoi. This is a story full of drama, but also of family, of love and growing up. Michel's experiences include visits to one of Hanoi's leading opium dens, and a deep friendship with its owner, Jo.

Hanoi, Adieu contains within it the paradoxes of colonialism, the genuine affection for the place and the people, and the bewilderment when the people turn violently against the coloniser and demand self determination. It is also the moving human story of a life caught up in historic events. First published 2005.