A Vietnamese mother risks everything to keep her daughter alive following the Vietnam War but is saving one life worth the risk of destroying others, including her own?
SNOW IN VIETNAM is the first book in the SNOW trilogy.
If you take the richness of Amy Tan’s storytelling in THE JOY LUCK CLUB and sprinkle in the humor and power play of Kevin Kwon’s CRAZY RICH ASIANS, you’ll get Amy M. Le’s debut historical fiction novel, SNOW IN VIETNAM. There are elements of humor, romance and heartache injected throughout these pages of fear and uncertainty.
Growing up in war-torn Vietnam was normal, even idyllic at times, for Snow, the youngest of seven children in her family. Although her heart belongs to an American GI, she honors her father by marrying a Vietnamese man. Her halcyon life unravels as the Vietnam War ravages her country and the threat of communism culminates with the fall of Saigon.
Life in unified Vietnam under the new regime becomes unbearable. Betrayed by her husband and left with a dying child to raise, Snow must set aside her morals and push herself to the limit emotionally, physically, and mentally, to buy her way out of the country. Her decision to escape and find sanctuary in America puts her family’s life in danger. Lives will be lost.
Adrift in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand with her daughter, nephew, and other boat refugees, they are at the mercy of pirates, storms, and dire conditions. Ultimately, Snow settles into a refugee camp on the island of Galang in Indonesia, but life there is deplorable. The threat of repatriation and the will to keep her family alive keeps her motivated to hustle for a better life.
Desperate for peace, Snow must decide whether to settle in Indonesia or push on toward the unknown for a chance at freedom and a thriving future.
SNOW IN VIETNAM was written to honor the memory of the author’s mother and is based on a true story. This story is dedicated to the boat people of Vietnam and all the refugees who risked their lives in a desperate search for safety and freedom. It is the author’s debut and the first novel in the Snow trilogy.
