Dust Child

 'Dazzling. Sharply drawn and hauntingly beautiful.' Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees Four lives, entwined forever by decisions made in a time of conflict. But what happens decades later when they unexpectedly converge once more?  'Dust Child is satisfying, lyrical, and deeply empathetic. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is a born storyteller.' Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow 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 Việt Nam war. Now he has returned in the hope of confronting the demons that refuse to fall silent.  Set between the Việt Nam war and the present day, Dust Child is a sweeping epic of family secrets and hidden heartache, from an internationally celebrated author. 'Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is one of the most unique storytellers of our time.' Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling-author of The Jane Austen SocietyA Best Book of the Year according to Book Riot, the Buzz Magazines, Cosmopolitan and Reader's DigestA Most Anticipated Title according to Sydney Morning Herald, Salon, NB Magazine and SheReads

'Powerful and deeply empathetic... A heartbreaking tale of lost ideals, human devotion, and hard-won redemption.', 'Beautifully crafted, haunting... A masterful display of Que Mai's capacity to evoke compassion through her lyrical prose.', 'Dazzling. Sharply drawn and hauntingly beautiful.', 'Dust Child is satisfying, lyrical, and deeply empathetic. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is a born storyteller.' Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, 'Quế Mai is interested in the personal cost of conflict. She is a skilled storyteller, and her lyrical turn of phrase reflects her characters' backgrounds as well as their emotions… Quế Mai demonstrates a deep understanding of splintered lives. The compassionate treatment of her characters, insights into the period and eloquent prose are impressive.'

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is an award-winning Vietnamese poet and novelist. She is the author of eleven books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Her debut novel and first book in English, The Mountains Sing, is an international bestseller and runner-up in the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize among other awards.