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Vaddey Ratner Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Vaddey Ratner
Photo: Kristina Sherk

Vaddey Ratner

How to pronounce Vaddey Ratner: ve-DAY RAT-ner

Vaddey Ratner Biography

Vaddey Ratner was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. After four years, having endured forced labor, starvation, and near execution, she and her mother escaped while many of her family members perished. In 1981, she arrived in the U.S. as a refugee not knowing English and, in 1990, went on to graduate as her high school class valedictorian. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Cornell University, where she specialized in Southeast Asian history and literature.

Ratner spent nine years in Southeast Asia while researching and writing her first novel, In the Shadow of the Banyan, and now divides her time between Southeast Asia and Washington, DC. Her second novel, Music of the Ghosts, was published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in April 2017.

Vaddey Ratner's website

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Interview

In two interviews, Vaddey Ratner discusses her first and second books book, In the Shadow of the Banyan and Music of The Ghosts, and how they reflect the experiences of her and her family during and after the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia.

In two interviews, Vaddey Ratner discusses her first and second books book, In the Shadow of the Banyan and Music of The Ghosts, and how they reflect the experiences of her and her family during and after the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia.



Music of The Ghosts

In the Shadow of the Banyan was largely autobiographical. How was the writing process different for Music of the Ghosts?

With Banyan, the fear was delving into something so deeply personal, so traumatic. I didn't know whether I could stop the process, once I dove in. I didn't know what else I would find.

With Music of the Ghosts, I knew I wanted to write about forgiveness and atonement, but I didn't know whether the characters I'd brought forth were capable of this. I felt more at the mercy of the characters. I had to access them on all levels--emotional and psychological, political and intellectual--and within these pages, I had to make their journey complete, without the chronology of real-life histories to rely on.

Banyan was scary because it was autobiographical; Music was scary because it wasn't. 

The horror of the Khmer Rouge is hard to comprehend. How do people in such dire situations hold onto...

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Books by this Author

Books by Vaddey Ratner at BookBrowse
Music of the Ghosts jacket In the Shadow of the Banyan jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Vaddey Ratner but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Tahmima Anam

    Tahmima Anam

    Tahmima Anam is the recipient of a Commonwealth Writers Prize, an O. Henry Prize, and has been named one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and was recently ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    In the Shadow of the Banyan

    Try:
    A Golden Age
    by Tahmima Anam

  • Naomi Benaron

    Naomi Benaron

    Naomi Benaron is a fiction writer, a poet, and a social activist - all entwined. She has worked extensively with the African refugee population in her community, teaches online through the Afghan Women's Writing Project, has ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    In the Shadow of the Banyan

    Try:
    Running the Rift
    by Naomi Benaron

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