"From Vietnam's most acclaimed writer and dissident, Duong Thu Huong, comes a novel set during and after the Vietnam War.".

"During the war, Hung meets Suong, a young peasant girl, and is struck by her voice and her beauty. He invites her to join his performing troupe and makes her his wife, opening a world of opportunities for Suong. The two become a team, entertaining the troops with Suong singing Hung's compositions. After the war, however, Hung is forced from his job, setting off a wrenching series of events.

Anger and pity drive Suong and Hung apart, and their downward spiral of destruction finally leads to a moving and unexpected climax." "Memories of a Pure Spring draws heavily on the experiences of its author, describing life at the battlefront, the inhuman conditions in a "re-education" camp, and the texture and rhythm, scents and sounds, of a provincial Vietnamese city. At the same time, it tells a simple, universal story of failed love."--BOOK JACKET.