The intoxicating beauty of the Vietnamese countryside, the hunger, the pride, the endurance of ordinary Vietnamese people confronted with the hypocrisy and corruption that surround them -- all are here in this moving, lyrical novel. At the center is Han, a young woman forced to grow up too fast in the slums of Hanoi and the turbulence of modern Vietnam. There is Hang's mother, who watches, powerless, as her life is shattered by a fanatical political campaign led by her own brother. And there is the mysterious Aunt Tam, who has accumulated wealth and bitterness in equal parts and seeks to pass on both to her niece, Hang. A beautifully written and translated book which should be read by all Americans.

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