Derek Hart
Tales of the Yellow Silk
I really did think Tales of the Yellow Silk was an excellent book. I find myself stacking the many other war novels I've been reading lately against it, and they all come up lacking.
Rie Sheridan
LoveRomance.com
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Thank you so much for sending me a copy of TALES OF THE YELLOW SILK, a most excellent novel that managed to pack a punch in an enviably small number of pages. Too many people these days think that all books have to be overlong. To find somebody who doesn't think that, can pace their work and deliver up equal helpings of action and romance is rare indeed!
Rachel A Hyde
Devon, ENGLAND
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The story's main character, James Kendle, is a sergeant in the US Army. Kendle's first assignment after completing Ranger School at Fort Benning is command of a Long Range Recon Patrol based in Lopburi, Thailand. The story begins with Kendle's arrival in Thailand and assignment to Team Delta.
The first task that Delta Team is to undertake is a routine patrol along the Burmese border. The patrol is patched with a few tense moments, but is otherwise unproductive from a military standpoint. Delta Team returns from the field to find that Military Assistance Command, Thailand needs all Special Forces units closer to the border of Cambodia.
Ironically, Delta's first assignment after moving to U Taphao Airbase, is honor guard duty at the Royal Palace of King Bhumipol. Here Kendle meets Princess Mai Yop Dui, and falls deeply in love. Their attraction is instantaneous, but the relationship is difficult for both of them to pursue.
As US military influence in the region declines, the political situation in Cambodia and Vietnam worsens. With this, Kendle's Team is sent on increasingly difficult and riskier missions. Kendle and Mai see each other as often as possible, but with decreasing frequency.
Kendle soon comes to learn that the US State Department and the Thai Monarchy have discovered his relationship with the princess. Forbidden to pursue it any further, Kendle is given one last opportunity to see Mai if he and his team will conduct a deep insertion into Cambodia to escort out a high level CIA operative. He and his team agree.
The mission goes horribly wrong ‑ the helicopter carrying Delta Team is shot down by a Khmer Rouge patrol. Two of Kendle's teammates are killed, and Kendle himself is badly injured, but a trailing helicopter picks up the remaining men. Kendle and his men are taken to the US military hospital in Bangkok, where Kendle spends several weeks in recovery.
Kendle is informed that he will receive a medical discharge and be sent back to the US. Upon learning this, Kendle tries desperately to contact Mai, but is stonewalled at every attempt. On his way back to the States, Kendle stops to purchase three strips of yellow silk: Two in remembrance of his fallen friends, and one for his lost love.
Recent Reviews
This is a powerful
book. That has to be said up front.
The story of nineteen-year-old Sergeant James Kendle and his squadron of
elite men in 1975 Cambodia makes for fascinating reading. Written in a
simple, matter-of-fact style that makes the subject matter that much more
poignant, the book details the missions and mayhem that this squad goes
through. From the bar fight they become embroiled in on a 48 hour pass to
the baby Kendle delivers on the verge of a dusty Cambodian roadway, the
reader feels a part of the history being made.
But why is this book being reviewed here on this site? Because the
centerpiece of the plot is the love affair between Kendle and Thai
princess Mai Duan. Doomed from the start by politics and circumstance,
there is a bittersweet passion to the affair that leaps from the pages.
There is plenty of casual sex as well, as might be expected in the story
of young men cast adrift in a foreign country in the midst of war, but the
love story between Kendle and Mai rises above the casual to transcend time
and race. Their brief interlude of happiness serves as a counterpoint to
the horrors of the covert missions that Kendle’s men undertake.
The book is told from the viewpoint of Sergeant Kendle, and this gives it
an immediacy that strengthens the story. His impressions of the Orient and
his growing disillusionment with the war effort reflect the attitudes of
the America he is a part of. Events spiral toward an ultimate tragedy that
will change his life forever.
This story has elements to appeal to male and female readers alike, but it
is not a typical romance. A reader looking for a traditional love story
might be disappointed. On the other hand, a reader looking for a novel
that tells of a time in American history that should never be forgotten
will find an engrossing read that will remain in the memory for a long
time to come.
Rie Sheridan
LoveRomances.com
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Highly
Recommended
Buy a Copy
Naïve young Sergeant James Kendle thinks he is lucky to be sent to the exotic location of Thailand; beautiful willing young girls, sun and all the glamour of the mysterious Far East. To make things even better he is in command of a small team called Delta and hits it off straight away with his new squad. During his brief tour of duty the predictions of a fortune girl will all come true – he will fall in love and have many adventures. But a lot more will happen and not all of it will be pleasant…
Derek Hart has an enviably easy style, packing in a lot of adventure, military action, romance and local colour in remarkably few pages. The book is structured as a series of short stories, focussing on various aspects of Kendle’s tour of duty including forays into enemy territory, life at “The Dirty Pit,” Bangkok’s fleshly delights and a certain romantic interlude. Nevertheless, they read as one continuous story in chapters and in turns comic, exciting or tragic they seem to run the gamut of wartime emotions and make deceptively light reading while staying in the mind long afterwards. No mean feat for such a short novel; perhaps writers of overlong doorstops ought to take a leaf out of Hart’s laconic book. I’d recommend this one to anybody who enjoys a good tale well seasoned with action and romance.
Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde
MyShelf.com
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When I first received this book, I was reluctant to read it let alone review it. It’s not something I would normally read. Thankfully, I was mistaken.
This is not exactly a novel, but, rather, a series of chronologically ordered vignettes that are all inter-connected. It is, essentially, the tale of a young American soldier coming of age in the Cambodian jungles in 1975, at the end of the Viet Nam War. It is the story of love and loss, of friendship that goes beyond mere camaraderie and of the frustration and guilt that plagues those who do come back alive.
These stories made me weep and they made me laugh. They evoke memories that, for some, may be better left buried, but you will not be bored. While technically, the book needs editorial refinement, the stories themselves are flawless. This is a book that makes you think, and one that everyone should read. “Tales of the Yellow Silk” is definitely one to pick up and take a look at.
Reviewer: Vicky Burkholder