The tragic story of a young Vietnamese girl is relayed in vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit. The reader journeys from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp and onward to a new life in Quebec. There, the young protagonist flees the embrace of her new immigrant community and revels in the chance to be part of Western culture. Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru celebrates the facets of the human experience - moments of beauty, brutality, comedy and sorrow.