Historical Fiction

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1
The Mountains Sing
The Mountains Sing
Que Mai Phan Nguyen
Spanning several decades of Vietnamese history, The Mountains Sing follows the Trần family through famine, political upheaval, land reform, and the Vietnam War. The story centres on grandmother Trần Diệu Lan, who is forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the land reforms of the 1950s. Years later, her young granddaughter Hương grows up in Hanoi as the war tears her family apart and sends her parents and uncles into battle. Through alternating perspectives, the novel reveals the extraordinary hardships endured by successive generations. While Hương tries to understand the world around her, Diệu Lan shares memories of loss, survival, and the choices she made to protect her children. Their relationship becomes a source of strength in a country where families have been divided by political loyalties, violence, and competing visions of the future. Drawing on Vietnamese history, folklore, poetry, and cultural traditions, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai presents a deeply personal perspective on a conflict often portrayed internationally through foreign experiences. The novel explores the lasting consequences of war while celebrating the resilience of ordinary people, the bonds between generations, and the possibility of healing through remembrance and compassion.
Vietnam 2020
2
Dust Child
Dust Child
Que Mai Phan Nguyen
Dust Child follows several characters whose lives were shaped by the Vietnam War and its long aftermath. In 1969, young Trang and her sister leave their rural village for Saigon, hoping to earn money for their struggling family. There, Trang becomes involved with an American serviceman, an encounter that changes the course of her life. Decades later, Phong, a Vietnamese man born to a Vietnamese mother and an African American father, searches for a way to leave Vietnam with his family. Meanwhile, an American veteran returns to the country he once fought in, hoping to confront his memories and make amends. As their stories intersect, the novel examines the lasting effects of war on families, particularly those who were marginalised or abandoned. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai explores identity, parenthood, prejudice, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.
Vietnam 2023
3
Brothers and Ghosts
Brothers and Ghosts
Khuê Phạm
Some families carry their history in photographs and stories. Others bury it in silence, leaving the next generation to piece together the fragments. Kiều, a Vietnamese-German journalist living in Berlin, calls herself Kim because it is easier for Europeans to pronounce. She has spent years distancing herself from her Vietnamese heritage, content to live without asking too many questions about her family’s past. But when an unexpected message arrives from her estranged uncle in California announcing that her grandmother is dying, the carefully maintained distance begins to collapse. Travelling to America with her parents, Kiều encounters a family divided by the Vietnam War. Her father supported the communist revolution, while his brother sided with the Americans. Decades of silence have left their competing memories unresolved, and the family reunion brings buried conflicts, painful loyalties, and forgotten stories back to the surface. Moving between generations and continents, Brothers and Ghosts explores how war shapes families long after the fighting ends. Khuê Phạm examines the complicated inheritance of migration: the languages lost, identities reshaped, and histories passed down incompletely. It is a moving story about belonging, memory, and the courage to ask questions that previous generations could not bear to answer.
Vietnam Germany United States 2024