Tuesday
October 3, 2023 
New Hope Arts hosts “Saigon De J’ai Vu,” an exhibition and book signing for the just-released memoir by Sandy Hanna, “The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon.”
The publisher’s book release provides a second opportunity for the community to see the presentation by Lambertville, N.J., and New York artist Sandy Hanna. The 2019 exhibition features new paintings by Hanna, depicting Saigon in the early 60s, as well as a discussion about the publishing of the book.
“The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon” is a true coming-of-age story told by 10-year-old Sandy transferred with her military family to Vietnam in 1960, where her father, the Colonel, serves as a military advisor to the South Vietnamese Army.
The family finds themselves in a country where politics and intrigue reside between plot and counter plot. Blissfully living a life of French decadence, Hanna maneuvers between coups, spies, bombings, corruption and scandal as she and her 13-year-old brother, Tom, run an illicit baby powder and Hershey bar business on the black market.
The story takes place in a turbulent country striving for nationalism and gives the reader a view into the life of military dependents living abroad and the ignorance that surrounds a little-understood time in history.
Copies of the book are available for purchase, provided in collaboration with Farley’s Book Store.
Gallery hours through the exhibition are noon to 8 p.m. Jan. 26 and noon to 5 p.m. Jan. 27. New Hope Arts is located at 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope.
