Bich Minh Nguyen Book order

Jobless with a PhD, Lee Lien returns home to her Chicago suburb from grad school, only to find herself contending with issues she’s evaded since college. But when her brother disappears, he leaves behind an object from their mother’s Vietnam past that stirs up a forgotten childhood dream: a gold-leaf brooch, abandoned by an American reporter in Saigon back in 1965, that might be an heirloom belonging to Laura Ingalls Wilder. As Lee explores the tenuous facts of this connection, she unearths more than expected—a trail of clues and enticements that lead her from the dusty stacks of library archives to hilarious prairie life reenactments and ultimately to San Francisco, where her findings will transform strangers’ lives as well as her own.A dazzling literary mystery about the true origins of a time-tested classic, Pioneer Girl is also the deeply moving tale of a second-generation Vietnamese daughter, the parents she struggles to honor, the missing brother she is expected to bring home—even as her discoveries yield dramatic insights that will free her to live her own life to its full potential.

Sisters Van and Linny are short. But they couldn't be more different. Van's the overachiever - a high-flying lawyer with a pristine home and husband, until the husband walks out. Linny is fashionable, flighty, works for a catering firm called You Did It Dinners and has just been told by her married lover that he's sticking with his wife.

Set in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the story follows a Vietnamese girl navigating her identity amidst a predominantly American culture. In a pre-PC era, she grapples with her desire to belong, which manifests as a fascination with mainstream American food, contrasting sharply with her grandmother's traditional Buddhist dishes. This exploration of cultural identity through food highlights her struggle to reconcile her heritage with the allure of American life.