The Green-Eyed Lama

By: Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, Jeffrey L. Falt

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

“'The Green-Eyed Lama' is the best novel ever written about Mongolia.” (Jack Weatherford)

The first Mongolian novel ever published in the West!

An award-winning, decade-long best seller in Mongolia.

The year is 1938. The newly installed communist government of Mongolia, under orders from Moscow, has launched a nation-wide purge. Before it ends, nearly a 10th of the country’s population will be murdered.

A young nomadic herdswoman named Sendmaa falls in love with Baasan, a talented and handsome Buddhist lama. Baasan resolves to leave the priesthood and marry Sendmaa, but her scheming neighbor persuades Baasan’s brother, Bold, to ask for Sendmaa's hand in marriage first. Their love triangle is engulfed by tragedy when Mongolia’s Stalin moves to crush the Buddhist faith.

Baasan is arrested. Sendmaa, Bold, and the other northern herders are branded counter-revolutionaries, and their herds are confiscated.

As the country teeters toward war, Baasan is sentenced to death as a class enemy. But an improbable ally, a lama turned “KGB” agent, intervenes in a way that reaches all the way to Franklin Roosevelt. Still, Baasan must summon every bit of his talent and ingenuity if he’s to survive the gulag, reunite with Sendmaa, and help save the Buddhist faith.

The Green-Eyed Lama is based on a true story. Nearly all of the book's characters are referred to by their real names. Written originally in English, it was published in Mongolian in 2008 and has been a best seller in Mongolia for 10 years.

The Green-Eyed Lama is the first Mongolian novel to be published in the West. In November 2017, the French publishing house Grasset Editions published the novel in French under the title Le Moine Aux Yeux Verts.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2008 Oyungerel Tsedevdamba & Jeffrey L. Falt (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

Amazing story

What an amazing true story about 1937 massacre and Red Revolutionist against peaceful monks and intelligent people of Mongolia. We always need to remember how much Mongolians sucrified to get our own independence.

Oliver Wyman's performance

Please excuse me while I fangirl over my favorite voice artist. I promise to get to the book. If you haven't heard a book performed by Oliver Wyman, stop your life and pick any book he's read that interests you (A Little Life is an amazzzzing performance but an emotionally difficult book). I promise you whatever book you listen to will be elevated by his performance. His voices and ability to get you to FEEL and get lost in the story is unparalleled. Plus there is something about his voice that makes it easy to fall asleep to (in a good way) if you're into being read to sleep like a toddler, as I am.

Okay, now for the book. I liked it. It could get a little slow here and there. But it kept my attention and taught me a bit about a culture and time in history I don't know much about. I would recommend this. Check it out and see what you think.