Twilight Territory: A Novel

A sweeping first novel set in post–World War II Vietnam by the award-winning author of Catfish and Mandala. The story takes place in 1942 during the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, in the Vietnamese fishing village of Phan Thiet. Tuyet lives in a small storefront with her aunt Coi, her cousin Ha, and her two-year-old daughter, Anh, having left her former life in Saigon two years earlier. When she meets Japanese major Yamazaki Takeshi, she experiences an unexpected connection despite her awareness of how the townspeople might judge her. Takeshi, a wounded veteran, grows to resent the Empire and its broken promises. As the Viet Minh begin to battle the French and Takeshi becomes involved with the Resistance, Tuyet and her family are drawn into the conflict with serious consequences. The novel combines elements of war and love, exploring Vietnam's struggle against French colonial rule and one woman's fight for independence alongside her country's liberation.