Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai In Conversation with Bruno Lettieri

Set against the backdrop of the Viet Nam War, The Mountains Sing is the enveloping, multi-generational tale of the Tran family, perfect for fans of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko or Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan.

H Noi, 1972. Huong and her grandmother, Tran Dieu Lan, cling to one another in their improvised shelter as American bombs fall around them. Her father and mother have already left to fight in a war that is tearing not just her country but her family apart. For Tran Dieu Lan, forced to flee the family farm with her six children decades earlier as the Communist government rose to power in the North, this experience is horribly familiar. Seen through the eyes of these two unforgettable women, The Mountains Sing captures their defiance and determination, hope and unexpected joy.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Vi Et Nam, celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyen's richly lyrical debut weaves between the lives of grandmother and granddaughter to paint a unique picture of the country's turbulent twentieth-century history. This is the story of a people pushed to breaking point, and a family who refuse to give in.

About The Author:

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the best-selling author of The Mountains Sing - a New York Times Editors' Choice. Born in Việt Nam in 1973, she grew up witnessing the war's devastation and its aftermath. She worked as a street seller and rice farmer before winning a scholarship from the Australian government to attend university in Melbourne. Upon her return to Việt Nam, she contributed to the sustainable development of her homeland via her positions with international organisations including UN agencies. Her eight books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction in Vietnamese language have earned her some of the top literary awards in Việt Nam including the Hà Nội Writers Association’s Poetry of the Year 2010 Award, the Capital’s Literature & Arts Award, and First Prize - the Poetry Competition About 1,000 Years Hà Nội. Quế Mai has a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University, United Kingdom, and currently divides her time between Indonesia and Việt Nam.