Music of the Ghosts Summary
Vaddey Ratner

Music of the Ghosts Overview

Vaddey Ratner’s Music of the Ghosts tells the fictional story of two Cambodians who survived the Cambodian civil war and genocide. The two protagonists Suteera Aung and the Old Musician are linked, though only the Old Musician knows why. Suteera returns to Cambodia after decades as a refugee in the United States to put her aunt’s ashes to rest, and to find out what happened to her missing father. She learns upon arrival that this elder blind musician holds the instruments to her and her family’s past. Though fiction, the novel includes true historical events in both Cambodia and the United States’ history. It also explores the themes of the burdens of survival, poverty, and the search for a homeland.