Linda Loan Thi Baer was born Nguyen Thi Loan in 1947, in the small village of Tao Xa, Thai Binh, North Vietnam. Her father was killed during a Viet Minh attack in 1951. Her mother remarried, to a wealthy practitioner of Chinese medicine and a war widower himself. Their family relocated to South Vietnam during the mass exodus of 1954, where they were forced to move constantly due to economic, political, and military conditions. They eventually settled near Vung Tau, south of Saigon. Loan left home at the early age of thirteen to seek work at various menial jobs in Saigon to help her family and to escape the physical abuse of her stepfather. After she turned sixteen, she became a club dancer and a black-market dealer. She met and married an American Air Force officer in 1968 and later followed him to the United States. She was naturalized and became American citizen in 1973. While raising two sons and a daughter, she obtained her GED and attended many college courses. Linda graduated first in her class of cosmetology school in 1982. She received her cosmetology license from the State of South Carolina. In 1986, she opened her own business, Linda B. Hair and Nail Salon. In 2015, the salon was renamed Elegance by Linda B. She still owns and operates it at the time of this book's publication. Full of love, heartache, and humor, Linda's unique storytelling wil have you laughing and crying, eager for more.