Over the Moat: Love Among the Ruins of Imperial Vietnam

“Cultures clash, but love conquers, with some fascinating twists and plenty of intimate details.” —Kirkus Reviews

James Sullivan's Over the Moat details his travels in Vietnam to bicycle from Saigon to Hanoi. He has just finished graduate school and has an assignment to write a magazine story about a country that is still subject to a U.S. trade embargo. But in Hue, the old imperial capital of Vietnam, the planned three-month bike trip in the fall of 1992 takes a detour.

Here, in a city spli...