Dust Child
Nguyen Phan, Que Mai
Four lives, entwined forever by decisions made in a time of conflict. But what happens decades later when they unexpectedly converge once more?
Trang and Quynh: sisters who leave their rural village for the bustling city of Saigon, desperate to find work to help their impoverished parents. When they take jobs as ' bar girls', paid to flirt with American GIs, they must decide whether they are willing to turn their backs on the people they used to be.
Phong: one of the thousands of mixed-race children abandoned by their American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. Phong grows up surrounded by rejection, insulted as a 'Black American imperialist', and a 'child of the enemy'. But he never gives up hope of finding his parents and proving he is more than a 'bui doi': more than the 'dust of life'.
Dan: A former American helicopter pilot still plagued by regrets about his actions during the Viet Nam war. Now he has returned in the hope of confronting the demons that refuse to fall silent.
Set between the Viet Nam war and the present day, Dust Child is a sweeping epic of family secrets and hidden heartache, from an internationally celebrated author. [Taken from book cover, One World Books]
Comments from BDS Reviewers
"Beautiful writing. From the first page I was pulled into this amazing story."
"I enjoyed the characters - ones you really care about."
"The story combines fact and fiction well, with a flowing narrative, different time periods and some story twists."
"The last quarter becomes a real page-turner."
"While it is a dark topic, the book also has love, forgiveness and hope."
"Fascinating history of postwar Vietnam and Vietnamese society."
"The factual side of the story is interesting and informative and the fictional side is a good tale, dealing with people's aspirations, loves, weaknesses and tragedies."
352
2023