People familiar with French author Marguerite Duras might not know that The Lover, her most celebrated novel and winner of the Goncourt Prize in 1984, was inspired by her girlhood in the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam.
There is a house in Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province, where a love story was set and has been retold almost every day for nearly a century, attracting many curious visitors.
The house, at 225A Nguyen Hue Street, is Huynh Thuy Le Ancient House, where the author’s lover lived.
The former owner of the house was Mr Huynh Thuy Le, who is believed to be the male character in the novel.
The house has a history of over 130 years, and is now a popular tourist destination in Mekong Delta for literature lovers.
The house was built in 1917, replacing a wooden home built in 1895. In 1972, the Le family left the house, and after the war ended in 1975 it became a police station.
In 2010, authorities declared it a historic site, making it a popular tourist spot.