Khiêm: Our Journey Through the Motherlands

This elegant triptych tells the stories of three Vietnamese women, each of whom is shaped by decades of war and colonialism and finds strength in family. After war between China and Japan separates Khiêm from her family in the 1940s, she becomes a nun, cultivating a commitment to hard work and gratitude. Later, she leaves the convent, marries a professor, and gives birth to a daughter, Trang. Danger now comes from the U.S. war in Vietnam, but the result—hardship for Vietnamese civilians—is the same. As teens, Trang and her brother escape to Indonesia and are adopted by a Canadian couple, who are surprised to learn that the children are not orphans. Concluding that “we can’t claim to love these two if we ignore the family that brought them in this world,” Trang’s adoptive parents form an organization to facilitate family reunions. Growing up in Canada, Trang’s daughter Yasmine is both aware of her privilege and caught between cultures. Eventually, she visits Vietnam, finding artistic inspiration in her family’s legacy. Her brother Djibril’s evocative pen-and-ink drawings connect the story lines. Fans of Tessa Hulls’s Feeding Ghosts and Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do will want to pick this up. (June)