I always had felt the deep desire to write about my unusual journey from Saigon to Ottawa, which occurred during the first thirty-four years of my existence.
My story is a story of faith as I converted to the Roman Catholic faith in 1962 in Belgium.
As a witness of Vietnam historythanks to my family whose many members and friends had been part of that historyI had served also the Republic of Vietnam, but my diplomatic position was cut short by the political and military tragic events happening in Saigon in 1975.
My odyssey had unexpected crossroads, honors, sorrows, and love stories. I was also the first Vietnamese girl who had represented her country at a magnificent mass celebrated by Pope Paul VI in the Basilica St. Peter on December 8, 1966.
I narrated how my journey had begun and what had happened, which made it feel like an incredible tale.
About the Author: Alice Le Dung Nguyen Swann was born in Saigon in 1941, during the Second World War. She witnessed the Indochina War and the Vietnam War, and her story is intertwined with the history of Vietnam.
While a student in Belgium, she converted to the Roman Catholic faith. She graduated from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) in 1964 and began her career in 1965 at the Embassy of the Republic of Vietnam in Rome, Italy. Afterward, she was posted in Geneva at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Vietnam to the United Nations and its specialized agencies.
In 1972, she published her first book in French, Le Pome du Vietnam, and became a member of ADELF (Association des crivains de langue franaise) (French Language Writers Association). Paris, France
In 1975, she immigrated to Canada, and she became a Canadian citizen in 1978. She married Julian Swann in June of 1978. As was the case with many other Vietnamese families, her parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, and friends were not spared the sorrows of war.
