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Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2024
400 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
A sweeping first novel of love, war, and resistance in post–World War II Vietnam, by the award-winning author of Catfish and Mandala.
The peak of the hot season, 1942: The wars in Europe and Asia and the Japanese occupation have upset the uneasy balance of French Indochina. In the Vietnamese fishing village of Phan Thiet, Tuyet ekes out a living at a small storefront with her aunt Coi, her cousin Ha, and her two-year-old daughter, Anh. She can hardly remember her luxurious life in the city of Saigon, which she left just two years ago.
The day Tuyet meets Japanese major Yamazaki Takeshi is inauspicious and stifling, with no relief from the sand-stirring wind. But to her surprise, she feels not fear or wariness, but a strange kinship. Tuyet is guarded, knowing how the townspeople might whisper, yet is drawn to Takeshi's warmth all the same. A wounded veteran with a good heart, Takeshi grows to resent the Empire for what it has taken—and the promises it has failed to keep. As the Viet Minh begin to battle the French and Takeshi risks his life for the Resistance, Tuyet and her family are drawn into the conflict, with devastating consequences.
A lushly panoramic novel, by turns gritty and profoundly moving, Twilight Territory is at once a war story and a love story that offers a fascinating perspective on Vietnam's struggles to break free of its French colonial past. At its heart is one woman's struggle for independence and her country's liberation.
"[A] transportive novel of love and resistance.... Combining the sensuality of Marguerite Duras with the revolutionary politics of Andre Malraux, Pham describes the ordeals faced by Tuyet and Takeshi in the most viscerally harrowing of terms, creating two memorable characters whose relationship is equal parts romantic and sacrificial. With captivating force, Pham brings to life a lesser-known aspect of the tragic history of Vietnam." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An engrossing story set amid a rich historical background." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A sensual fever dream of a novel. Compulsively readable. Much like Marguerite Duras, Pham illuminates parts of Vietnam's lesser-known history through the complicated lives of its people."
―Tatjana Soli, author of The Lotus Eaters
"Deeply empathetic, heart-wrenching, and moving, Twilight Territory highlights the devastating impact of colonization on both the colonizers and the colonized. With his iconic poetic prose, Andrew X. Pham gifts us an epic love story that conquers wars, horror, and human greed to offer us hope and light."
―Nguyen Phan Que Mai, internationally best-selling author of The Mountains Sing and Dust Child
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Srisuda Wansawat
About The Author
Andrew X Pham (pronounced fam) was born in Saigon,
Vietnam in 1967. His father, Thong Van Pham, worked for the
US during the Vietnam War and was imprisoned in a
reeducation camp after the war by the Communists. The family
arrived in California in 1977 as 'boat people'.
As a child, Andrew thought he would become a painter but
eventually followed his father (a software engineer) into
the same field, graduating from UCLA with a degree in
aerospace engineering in 1990. After briefly working
as an aircraft engineer, he realized he was unfit for
cubicle work so quit his job to pursue an M.B.A. and an M.S.
in Engineering. Eventually, he abandoned his studies,
and, ...
... Full Biography
Link to Andrew X. Pham's Website
Name Pronunciation
Andrew X. Pham: last name is pronounced 'fam'
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