The International Bestseller ANew York TimesEditors’ Choice Selection
A Winner of the 2020 Lannan Literary Awards Fellowship A Best Book of 2020:NPR's Book Concierge *PopMatters *Washington Independent Review of Books * Real Simple * The Buzz Magazine* NB Magazine * BookBrowse * Paperback Paris * Writer's Bone*Global Atlanta
"[An] absorbing, stirring novel . . . that, in more than one sense, remedies history." —The New York Times Book Review
“A triumph, a novelistic rendition of one of the most difficult times in Vietnamese history . . . Vast in scope and intimate in its telling . . . Moving and riveting.” —VIET THANH NGUYEN, author ofThe Sympathizer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’sPachinkoor Yaa Gyasi’sHomegoingand the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’sIn the Shadow of the Banyan,The Mountains Singtells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War. Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore apart not just her beloved country, but also her family.
Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Việt Nam,The Mountains Singbrings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope.
The Mountains Singis celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s first novel in English.
