HA NOI (VNS) — The Vietnamese version of novel La Terre Gourmande by Belgian writer Jacques Danois has just hit bookstores throughout the country.

Entitled Tro Lai Voi Doi (Return to Life), the novel was translated by Phan Quang and published by the Kim Dong Publishing House.

The story is set in the border area between Cambodia and Thailand. Various people, including tourists, smugglers, spies and Vietnamese soldiers frequent the area.

In 1985, when the book was first published, the book helped audiences throughout the world understand the real situation in the region..

One of the most interesting parts of the book is about Tran, a Vietnamese soldier who saved the life of a Khmer Rouge soldier in the jungle.

Danois was a reporter and writer and a director of information at UNICEF. He was born in Brussels in 1927. Upon retirement, he became secretary, then vice-president, of the World Association of Children's Friends. He died in France in 2008. — VNS