The tragic story of an army deserter and his Vietnamese girlfriend whose only sanctuary is a small back room in Saigon -- the first novel from the author of the 1993 Pulitzer-Prize winner of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain.

Eden is a room, a small back room in Saigon. For five years the only sanctuary for Clifford Wilkesa, deserter from the army, and his girlfriend Lanh. Lanh is an extraordinary woman whose love is enabling her to heal slowly from the wounds of her life as a prostitute, wounds inflicted by foreign troops and kept open by the extended occupation of her country. Can the love of these two people survive outside the cultural vacuum of that back room? Butler's masterful rendering of their tragic story is immensely powerful and profound. A stunning first book by the future Pulitzer Prize-winner and one of the finest ever written about the American experience in Vietnam.

Eden isa small back room in Saigon. For five years it has been the only sanctuary for Clifford Wilkes, a deserter from the army, and his girlfriend Lanh. Lanh is an extraordinary woman whose love is enabling her to heal slowly from the wounds of her life as a prostitute, wounds inflicted by foreign troops and kept open by the extended occupation of her country.

Live with them, in their strange and intense world; feel their anxiety as the last opportunities for escape approach; race through the alleys of a crumbling city to the sound of helicopters hammering away in the distance, beating the retreat from this war-torn country.

Can the love of the survive outside the cultural vacuum of that back room? Butler's masterful rendering of their tragic story is immensely powerful and profound, A stunning first book by the future Pulitzer Prize-winner and one of the finest ever written about the American experience in Vietnam.