pages 1-50 Summary

The book starts out with John Converse sitting on a bench in downtown Saigon. The weather is hot and Converse is seeking shade. Converse sits down on a bench beside an American woman. After a few minutes they strike up a conversation. The woman is a missionary in Ngoc Linh province for 14 years. Ngoc Linh is a place that Converse has never been but has heard stories about and wonders why anyone would live there. The woman calls it God's Country. The pair chats as it is siesta time and things are moving slowly. Converse pauses to read a letter from his wife, Marge. The letter talks about a trip to New York and how it has changed.

The woman talks about language studies and the program she had founded with her husband who had recently died. Converse admires the woman's...