Absolution is set primarily in Saigon during 1963, against the backdrop of the escalating conflict in Vietnam. Tricia’s husband Peter is a civilian advisor for the US, one of the many young men sent by President John F. Kennedy to assist South Vietnam’s fight against North Vietnam. Alice McDermott uses the setting to explore the effects of the war on women’s autonomy and the conventions of traditional marriage.

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, was a conflict that took place in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos from 1955 to 1975. The origins of the Vietnam War date back to 1886, when France established the colony of French Indochina in Southeast Asia. Vietnam remained under French control until WWII. During the German occupation of France, Japan invaded Indochina, occupying the territory until their surrender in 1945. Nationalist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh led the Indochinese Communist Party, also known as the Viet Minh, in declaring Vietnam’s independence from France.

In the intervening decade, France fought to wrest back control of Vietnam but was forced to give up its remaining territories after the passage of the Geneva Accord in 1954. Vietnam was officially liberated from colonial rule and partitioned into two countries, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.