By the author of the award-winning memoir The Concubine’s Children.

On June 8, 1972, a nine-year-old girl, severely burned by napalm, ran from a misplaced air strike over her village in South Vietnam and into the eye of history. Her photograph—one of the most unforgettable images of the war and of the twentieth century—was seen around the world. The Girl in the Picture is at once a riveting personal story about Kim Phuc, a victim of war and later, under the Communist regime, a tool of propaganda, and a groundbreaking social history that offers a rare view of everyday life in Vietnam both during and after the war.

Denise Chong is an award-winning and internationally published author. The Girl In The Picture was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, as was her memoir, The Concubine’s Children. She lives in Ottawa with her husband and two children.

Denise Chong's profile page

Finalist for the Governor General’s Award

“Denise Chong’s story of Kim’s life, both before and after that decisive click of the camera shutter, is masterly. It is not only a fascinating account of everyday life in South Vietnam, but a crisply informative analysis of the social, political and economic structures of Indochina. Chong draws every strand of the story together so skillfully and excitingly that her book reads like the best kind of novel—both moving and startling.” —The Times Literary Supplement
“As Denise Chong writes in The Girl in the Picture, what happened to Phuc and her family after the Americans had gone was as hurtful as the napalm…. The famous photo and Phuc’s story are a metaphor for the senselessness of the Vietnam War.” —The New York Times
“The story of what became of the napalmed girl in the most famous Vietnam picture is extraordinary. So is the story of how the picture was taken. A new book tells them both.” —The Guardian
“It is a book that everyone should read, especially those who think the war ends on the day hostilities cease.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Denise Chong has produced an astonishingly detailed, vivid and compassionate account of an exceptional human being. It is the powerful, personal story of a very public figure. I recommend this book to all.” —The Lethbridge Herald
“Simply told, with a delicate political balance for the most part carefully managed, the story of the girl in the photograph is one of horror, survival, and hope—a primer if not the definitive text for those trying to understand the Vietnam war.” —Kirkus Reviews
“An extraordinary piece of journalism.” —The Baltimore Sun

“Moving beyond the frame of that powerful photo, Chong deftly shifts focus between its personal and political impact.” —Entertainment Weekly