Lily Blackard

Red Sky in the Morning Lily Blackard

A Young Woman's Flight from War and Regime-Change



Xa Lili was just six years old when full-blown combat erupted in war-weary Vietnam. A century of colonial rule, followed by a bitter struggle for independence, had left the country divided, a focal point in the global conflict between Communist and Free World ideologies.



When the US withdrew and Vietnam was reunified under Hanoi, Lili was swept up in an unprecedented swell of humanity fleeing a landscape devastated by war. Her story, spanning the years of her childhood to young adulthood, represents the heritage of more than a million Asian-Americans living in the United States today.



This small volume, beautifully illustrated with original watercolor paintings, is based on Lily Blackard's recollections of her journey to America as a Vietnam War refugee.