Dana Sachs went to Hanoi when tourist visas began to be
offered to Americans; she was young, hopeful, ready to immerse herself
in Vietnamese culture. She moved in with a family and earned her keep by
teaching English, and she soon found that it was impossible to blend
into an Eastern culture without calling attention to her
Americanness--particularly in a country where not long ago she would
have been considered the enemy. But gradually, Vietnam turned out to be
not only hospitable, but the home she couldn't leave.

Sachs takes us
through two years of eye-opening experiences: from her terrifying
bicycle accidents on the busy streets of Hanoi to how she is begged to
find a buyer for the remains of American "poes and meeas" (POWs and
MIAs). The House on Dream Street is also the story of a community
and the people who become inextricably, lovingly, a part of Sachs's
life, whether it's her landlady who wonders why at twenty-nine she's not
married, the children who giggle when she tries to speak the language,
or Phai, the motorcycle mechanic she falls for.

The House on
Dream Street is both the story of a country on the cusp of change
and of a woman learning to know her own heart.