Annam

"In 1788, a handful of French monks and nuns set sail fro Vietnam. They preach the Gospels to the peasants of these unknown tropics, and only by chance learn from passing ships about the terror of the Revolution, the death of their King, and the oppression of their Church. After 1792 there is no further news--Europe has forgotten them. In their years of trial these valorous men and women both abandon everything and reinvent everything. The jungle, by its ordeals and its beauties, transforms them; in it they will live and die, having forgotten God in the struggle."--P. [4] of cover.