The River's Memory

She knows the Khmer Rouge will destroy Cambodia in 1975-but loving him in 1969 means she has six years to prepare for the impossible.

Phalla transmigrates to 1969 Cambodia with one mission: save Kheang from the genocide she knows is coming. But when she meets him at a temple festival, she realizes the truth-she can't prevent his death, only delay it. Instead of running, she makes an impossible choice: to love him fully in the time they have left. They marry in a traditional three-day Khmer ceremony, build a life teaching village children, and create a home together. While Kheang sees only their present happiness, Phalla secretly prepares-learning survival skills, mapping escape routes, stockpiling supplies, waiting for April 1975 when everything will fall apart.

The Khmer Rouge seize power exactly as she knew they would, transforming their peaceful village into a labor camp overnight. Children are torn from parents, educated people are executed, and Phalla discovers she's pregnant just as Year Zero begins. Now she must hide three secrets that could kill them all: her pregnancy, Kheang's mixed Chinese-Vietnamese heritage, and his past as a teacher. As families are destroyed and bodies float past in the river, Phalla clings to the hope that four years of careful preparation will be enough to save the three lives she's responsible for-her own, her husband's, and their unborn child's. But in Pol Pot's Cambodia, even the most careful plans may not be enough to survive.

Content Note: This novel contains depictions of the Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime, including forced labor, starvation, family separation, ethnic targeting, violence against women, and child death. It portrays the Khmer Rouge period and its impact on ordinary Cambodians with historical accuracy and deep respect for those who suffered and survived.

Book 3 of The Lotus Between Worlds series - Each book is a complete story that can be read standalone.