off dictionary pages and then stuck them with rice glue to appear like newspapers. This paper wrapped his food supply, and as he ate, he quietly learned word by word. If another inmate or Vietcong discovered his secret, the penalty was death or torture. In 1981, after five years of studying the dictionary, he was released from the camp because of illness. In 1982, he escaped and came to a Malaysia refugee camp, resettling a year later in Australia. It took twenty-five years, but Hoa wrote his first book, The Dark Journey, in 2010. He wrote Good Evening Vietnam a year later, and now he submits From Laborer to Author. Hoa Minh Truong volunteered for the South Vietnamese army and was among the 500,000 defeated troops sent to re-education camps. He resettled in Western Australia, where he became a journalist. He has never returned to his homeland. Publisher's website: http://sbpra.com/HoaMinhTruong