IN 1985, A MAN BOARDED A BOAT with his wife and three youngest children. He was hoping to follow his six older children in escaping a Vietnam he no longer recognized. His six older children had already fled to freedom, and it was time to join them in what would surely be a better life. A perilous ocean lay between him and a reunion with the rest of his family―between all of them and freedom―but it wasn’t meant to be. Along with his youngest daughter, the man drowned when the ship went down.

God wanted to take his soul, but he begged God to let him remain between life and death, unable to bear leaving his bereaved family. He wanted his soul to drift among his surviving wife and children to continue to love and to protect them. God granted his wish.

This is his story.

A math professor at Niagara College, located in Welland, Ontario, Jolie P. Hoang escaped Vietnam in 1983, two years before her father and youngest sister perished in their attempt to escape to freedom. Their deaths affected her deeply, and she only managed to find inner peace upon the completion of this book, which came very much from the heart. She hopes that the next generations of her family, as well as the Vietnamese Boat Peoples, will be inspired by his sacrifice, and with this volume, learn more about their roots.

Jolie lives with her daughters in Fonthill, Ontario.