The Plain of Jars Dayton Literary Peace Prize entry What would you do if you found that the bones and ashes you were given by the Air Force were not the remains of your loved one Dorothy Kozeny a year old wido
2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize entry What would you do if you found that the bones and ashes you were given by the Air Force were not the remains of your loved one Dorothy Kozeny, a 64 year old widow from a small town in Ohio, after getting no answers from the relevant authorities, decides the only thing to do is to go to Laos herself to search for the truth concerning2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize entry What would you do if you found that the bones and ashes you were given by the Air Force were not the remains of your loved one Dorothy Kozeny, a 64 year old widow from a small town in Ohio, after getting no answers from the relevant authorities, decides the only thing to do is to go to Laos herself to search for the truth concerning her son s fate In 1990, accompanied by a trusted Laotian called Kampeng, Dorothy travels deep into the mountains of rural Laos, attempting to trace her son s path through inhospitable terrain, an unforgettable trek that provides her with a rewarding, often humorous, and at times frustrating, cross cultural experience All clues lead her to a mysterious figure, an alleged CIA operative left over from the war, living in a remote and hostile area deep in the jungle The second part of the book traces the life of this enigmatic character hiding in Laos, the two main characters linked through Dorothy s son.Reviewed By Michelle Stanley for Readers FavoriteDorothy Kozeny, grieving for her son who died in Vietnam, is shocked when she receives a mysterious letter stating the ashes the military sent her may not be Andrew s Her investigation confirms this, but the military bureaucrats are tight lipped Dorothy decides to go to Laos to unearth the truth Kampeng, a guide, takes Dorothy on an unforgettable journey filled with trepidation as the country e
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Unlimited The Plain of Jars - by N. Lombardi Jr.
N. Lombardi Jr.
N Lombardi Jr, the N for Nicholas, has spent over half his life in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, working as a groundwater geologist Nick can speak five languages Swahili, Thai, Lao, Chinese and Khmer Cambodian.In 1997, while visiting Lao People s Democratic Republic, he witnessed the remnants of a secret war that had been waged for nine years, among which were children wounded from leftover cluster bombs Driven by what he saw, he worked on The Plain of Jars for the next eight years Nick maintains a website with content that spans most aspects of the novel The Secret War, Laotian culture, Buddhism etc The site offers a sample the first 3 chapters available for download.Nick now lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and has just released his second novel, Journey Towards a Falling Sun, set in the wild frontier of northern Kenya.Some personal comments taken from his user s profile Working as an engineering geologist has taken me to other countries as well, including the Gulf States in the Middle East, North Africa, and two years in China My cross cultural experiences allow me to adopt a world view, and form a major component of my writing, with the aim of spreading cultural knowledge to the reading public in an entertaining way I also enjoy writing emotionally charged stories, and I often laugh and cry while writing them,lost inside the fictional world I create Politically, I am ardently against any war,regardless of the rhetoric used to justify it Until we abandon war, the human race is fated to remain in a savage conditionI enjoy physical exercise, watching a well made film I love Frank Capra , and of course reading a good book I like to be in natural settings rather than an urban environment I am also morbidly interested in following the dark side of covert machinations by the state, and geopolitics, the root cause of war.