A Model American by Elsie Burch Donald – first published 2007
In 1970 an American couple fly to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat. On their return journey to Phnom Penh their plane runs out of fuel and they are forced to land in a clearing in the Cambodian jungle. They and their companions – the American pilot, an English guide and a Frenchman who has spent most of his life in Cambodia – are rescued from dying of thirst by friendly local tribes people, who take them back to their village and provide them with food and accommodation. They cannot leave until the rainy season, which is several months away, increases the flow in the river, which is used as a highway to the regional capital. However the Vietnam War is in progress and the violence in beginning to spill over into Cambodia as the Khmer Rouge becomes more powerful. The book is a bit lightweight but with enough details about the country to paint an impressionistic picture of life in rural Cambodia. 7/10
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