The Book of Salt by Monique Truong (Vietnamese Language Edition)
In Paris, in 1934, Bình has accompanied his employers, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, to the train station for their departure to America. His own destination is unclear: will he go with “the Steins,” stay in France, or return to his native Vietnam? For five years, he has been the live-in cook at the famous apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus. Before Bình’s decision is revealed, his mesmerizing narrative catapults us back to his youth in French-colonized Vietnam, his years as a galley hand at sea, and his days turning out fragrant repasts for the doyennes of the Lost Generation.
Under the Burning Sky by Hoai Huong Aubert-Nguyen
Tuân is forty years old. Despite the cold of winter, he walks in the Chantilly forest with the hope of witnessing the first daffodils bloom. Slowly, he lets himself be invaded by the buried memories of his Indochinese childhood... Although he remains convinced of having been "almost perfectly happy until the age of twelve", Tuân was nevertheless very early confronted with the terrible mystery of death.
Blue Dragon, White Tiger by Trần Văn Dĩnh
Every year, the living and the dead in Vietnam eagerly await the return of Tet, a mobile feast corresponding to the new moon and placed halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.