The Demon Who Peddled Longing — Khanh Ha

Set in post-war Vietnam, The Demon Who Peddled Longing tells the terrible journey of a nineteen-year-old boy in search of the two brothers who are drifters and who raped and killed his cousin also his girl. It brings together the damned, the unfit, the brave, who succumb by their own doing to the call of fate. Yet their desire to survive and to face life again never dies, so that when someone like the boy who is psychologically damaged by his family tragedy, who no sooner gets his life together after being rescued by a fisherwoman than falls in love with an untouchable girl and finds his life in peril, takes his leave in the end, there is nothing left but a longing in the heart that goes with him.
REVIEWS "The Demon Who Peddled Longing takes you on the quest of an insular boy - a quest to avenge his cousin's murder and to win the heart of a fickle woman. His deliverance lies not in the consummation of these goals but in the dignity with which he pursues them. As poetic as Faulkner, as stark as Cormac McCarthy, The Demon Who Peddled Longing is an absorbing read." -James Hanna, "The Sand Hill Review"
"Compelling and beautifully written ... a richly accomplished story set in a land still wounded by war." -Stephen Evans, author of "The Marriage of True Minds"
"An unnamed protagonist journeys through a Faulknerian dreamscape where redemption arises out of violence and beauty blossoms from the mire of loss. A rare achievement through a mesmerizing rhythm of language. That this novel is an artistic triumph is an understatement." -John M. Gist, "Red Savina Review"
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Khanh Ha is the author of Flesh (2012, Black Heron Press). He is a three-time Pushcart nominee and the recipient of Greensboro Review's 2014 ROBERT WATSON LITERARY PRIZE IN FICTION.