The Rent Collector

 I just finished a terrific novel called The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. Set in Cambodia, Sang Li and Ki Lim are a young married couple with a sickly 18 month old baby. They make a living as trash pickers as a municipal dump called Stung Meanchey. They live in a makeshift shack within the confines of the dump. A rent collector comes every month and angrily demands the rent. One day Ki Lim brings his wife a gift of a book. When the rent collector comes Sang Li notices the rent collector can read. Sang Li asks the rent collector for reading lessons. Sang Li is sure that knowing how to read will better her life and the life of her son. As it turns out, literacy does improve the lives of Sang Li, Ki Lim and their son.