About the Book

In the summer of 1984, the war in Vietnam comes home to Samantha Hughes, whose father was killed there before she was born. All she has is a picture of him as a young soldier, and as Sam begins to grapple with the challenges of her own adolescent years, she also finds herself confronting the desire and need to know more about her father and what happened to him and the other American soldiers who served in Vietnam.

Today’s students will relate to Sam and her desire to leave her small town for the bigger world versus the pull of a loving boyfriend and family. Her need to confront the controversies and horrors of war and its impact on soldiers and the families they leave behind makes In Country a meaningful book for the current generation of students.

“A brilliant and moving book . . . a moral tale that entwines public history with private anguish.” -Los

Angeles Times Book Review

Freshman Common Book: Centenary College, University of South Carolina, Upstate

Critical Praise

"A novel that, like a flashbulb, burns an afterimage in our minds."  — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"A moral tale that entwines public history with private anguish."  — Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"It’s as impressive a work of fiction as I’ve read recently, on Vietnam or any other subject."  — Robert Wilson, USA Today

"Mason’s message is simple: The war dead are us—we are them—and, whatever political stance we took with regard to Vietnam, we are all Americans united by one past, one flag, one history." — San Francisco Chronicle

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Product Details

• ISBN: 9780060835170
• ISBN 10: 0060835176
• Imprint: Harper Perennial
• On Sale: 09/01/2020
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.610 in (d)
• Pages: 272
• List Price: $16.99
• BISAC1 : FICTION / Literary
• BISAC2 : FICTION / War & Military
• BISAC3 : FICTION / Coming of Age