War

Mention the genre of historical fiction, story setting of wars will come to mind. Tolstoy's War and Peace is just one contemporary example.

As mentioned in the moving fiction, The Mountains Sing, wars have the power to turn graceful and cultured people into monsters.

The father of the protagonist, Diệu Lan, was unlucky to meet one of those monsters. He was decapitated and murdered by Japanese soldiers when he was travelling to Hanoi to sell his family's potato crop. 

If you think wars can only strip away people's conscience, Diệu Lan would have sneered at your condescension. Wars unmask human courage and grace too. The Great Famine in 1945 forced Diệu Lan to flee to Hanoi as a beggar with five of her children. She could find nothing to keep the children alive, and ended up offering them the banana stalk. 

"But that's pig's food," said her son.

"If pigs can eat it, so can we," Diệu Lan smiled and bit into the stalk. Juicy and crunchy.

Her daughter took a bite and nodded. "Delicious."

Her son then gave in, biting down the banana stalk. His face softened as he ate. 

Their family endured the famine and made it.