Summary

The first four pages are the section called “Prelude.” The section begins from the third person perspective of Suteera who wakes to the sound of a tremor, which she thinks is music. She has forgotten much, including her father’s voice, and who her mother and brother were before they died. Her aunt Amara is sleeping beside her but Suteera feels afraid. Once it is very dark, together they will flee Cambodia to escape into Thailand.

Suteera remembers being forced out of her village by soldiers, and eventually leaving her struggling grandparents behind as they could not keep up with the escape. They had fled along rice fields, stepping over dead bodies and guided by a young soldier. Her aunt stooped to take a gold necklace off a dead woman. At one point they thought they heard a lute, and all of...