Robert Olen Butler is a fine and entertaining writer. In 1993 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. He is also the author of the bizarre and hilarious Tabloid Dreams. The Alleys of Eden is his first novel. Like A Good Scent. . . it was inspired by Vietnam. It is the love story of a Saigon prostitute and an American soldier who deserted and lived with her. Cool novel.