OnMay3,1975,HongKongreceiveditsfirstcohortof3,743Vietnameseboatpeople.Theincidentopeneda25-yearhistorythatbelongstoalargercontextofforcedmigrationinmodernsocialhistory.Byresearchingallpossibletextualmaterialavailable,thebookprovidesacomprehensivereviewofthecollectivehistoryoftheVietnameseboatpeople.Moreover,itintertwineshistoricalarchiveswithpersonaldrawingscreatedbytheVietnameselivinginHongKongdetentioncamps,recappingacollectivememorywithitshumanface.
Byinterpretingandanalyzingthesedrawings,theauthordemonstratestheexpressiveandcommunicativepowerofimageryasaformoflanguage,andillustrateshowartcantellapersonaltragicstorywhenlanguagefails.Sheunfoldsthestoriesandartworksthroughoutthewholebookwiththehopethatnewinsightsandmeaningscanbeattainedthroughtheconsciousreviewandre-interpretationofthepast.
