Red Dust

“To show you mercy is no gain; to destroy you is no loss.” — The Angkar. Pol Pot’s shadowy organisation the Angkar destroyed almost a quarter of Cambodia’s population during its murderous rule. Emily, a London journalist, is to join her paper’s investigations team, but remains haunted by her doctor mother’s disappearance in Cambodia twenty years earlier. When a name from the past resurfaces, she realises she can’t move on without uncovering the truth. Emily engineers an assignment to cover illegal logging in Cambodia, but what begins as a professional investigation soon becomes deeply personal. Guided by journalist Jon Berger and his Cambodian wife Nary, she journeys from Phnom Penh to Battambang and deep into the forests where illegal logging is robbing the villagers of their livelihoods. Emily’s search reveals a hidden story. Her mother, Maggie, had uncovered corruption within the UNHCR and was betrayed to the Khmer Rouge to ensure her silence. As Emily closes in on the truth, those complicit will do anything to keep their secrets buried. Can she achieve the justice that has long been denied, as well as finally coming to peace with her past?