Non-Fiction Review

Khanteya: My Courageous Quest for Love and Freedom
by Julietta Khanteya Thong
ISBN-10: 0595391052
Review by Heather Froeschl

What makes an American Dream? To be successful, happy and healthy? It may be different things to different people, but Julietta Khanteya Thong has proved an American Dream is possible. In her book "Khanteya: My Courageous Quest" she tells the world how she struggled and overcame many obstacles to make it to where she is today.

Khanteya's family endured impossibilities during the Cambodian Communist take over that began on April 17, 1975. They were forced to leave their home, and in fear for their lives became fugitives in their own land. Disguised as farmers, they existed, only barely, until they were able to flee into Thailand. Along the way, the family was split up, put into concentration camps, forced into slave labor, reunited, and ultimately regrouped in a refugee camp run by the United Nations, Khao-I-Dang. There, Khanteya volunteered in a hospital, caring for newborn babies and their mothers. There she met Dr. Rene, and began to understand love. Her teen years were "lived" on the run, in grave danger. Life began again when the family was sponsored to come to the United States.

This touching story is all the more real for me because I was once friends with a young many named Chen Pret, an immigrant to the US, from the terror of Cambodia's take over. The honesty and openness of Khanteya's story makes it personable and at the same time all the more real. This part of the world's history is not something that everyone knows about, but should! Her inspirational tale of her success in America is a testament to perseverance and dedication. Khanteya is an admirable woman and her story is one you won't forget.