""After my first book was published I received some letters."".

"So begins Sigrid Nunez's haunting novel about the poignant and unusual friendship between a novelist and the retired army nurse who seeks her out. Among the letters the narrator receives is one from a Rouenna Zycinski, who recalls a forgotten childhood connection and asks for a meeting. First wary, then fascinated by the stories Rouenna tells about her life as a combat nurse in Vietnam, the narrator flatly declines her request that they collaborate on a memoir.

Only later, in the aftermath of Rouenna's shocking death, is the narrator drawn to write about her friend - and her friend's war. Writing Rouenna's story becomes all-consuming, at once a necessity and a solace."--BOOK JACKET.