Banyan Moon LP

(Hardback, Large Print Edition)

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"A riveting mother-daughter tale." Elle

A celebration of life in all its forms and a joy to read. Christina Baker Kline, #1New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Exiles

A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the familys inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories.

When Ann Tran gets the call that her fiercely beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. In the years since shes last seen Minh, Ann has built a seemingly perfect lifea beautiful lake house, a charming professor boyfriend, and invites to elegant parties that bubble over with champagne and good tastebut it all crumbles with one positive pregnancy test. With both her relationship and carefully planned future now in question, Ann returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Hung.

Back in Florida, Hung is simultaneously mourning her mother and resenting her for having the relationship with Ann that she never did. Then Ann and Hung learn that Minh has left them both the Banyan House, the crumbling old manor that was Anns childhood home, in all its strange, Gothic glory. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person whos always held them together.

Running parallel to this is Minhs story, as she goes from a lovestruck teenager living in the shadow of the Vietnam War to a determined young mother immigrating to America in search of a better life for her children. And when Ann makes a shocking discovery in the Banyan Houses attic, long-buried secrets come to light as it becomes clear how decisions Minh made in her youth affected the rest of her lifeand beyond.

Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast,Banyan Moonis a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.

"Heart-shatteringly beautiful.Banyan Moonis a love letter to keepers of secrets, to motherhood, family and survival." Nguyn Phan Qu Mai, internationally bestselling author ofThe Mountains SingandDust Child

Reviews

"A riveting mother-daughter tale spanning two different timelines, and anchored by the magnetic pull of a Gothic home known as the Banyan House, Banyan Moon is author Thao Thai's beautiful debut." -- Elle, Best Books of 2023

"A compelling look at three generations of women, from 1960s Vietnam to modern-day Florida. ... Readers who savor many unexpected twists and a surprising conclusion will be rewarded." -- Library Journal (starred review)

"A beautifully written, page-turning novel that explores the traumatic legacy of war, the complexity of cultural assimilation, and the intimacy of family conflict with fierce grace and psychological acuity. Banyan Moon is a celebration of life in all its forms and a joy to read." -- Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Exiles

"Heart-shatteringly beautiful. Banyan Moon is a love letter to keepers of secrets, to motherhood, family and survival. Thao Thai is a major talent whose exciting, impressive, and poetic prose will grow into you, like a strong and lush banyan tree deeply rooted in the rich Vietnamese literary heritage." -- Nguyn Phan Qu Mai, internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing and Dust Child

"Tender, gripping and heartbreaking. A haunting page turner that reexamines lineage, motherhood, and what it means to be a survivor -- in every definition of the word. A welcome debut from a stunning voice who will forever impact the Vietnamese American canon." -- Carolyn Huynh, author of The Fortunes of Jaded Women

"Banyan Moon offers an honest and aching exploration of the gulf between generations--how we misunderstand those we love the most, the unintentional hurt we cause them, how we struggle to find the language to connect. But it's also a novel of hope, a story of forgiveness, a reminder that even though we can never fully know the people closest to us, it is worth the try." -- Tracey Lien, internationally bestselling author of All That's Left Unsaid

"Banyan Moon is an intricately woven story of three generations of women, surviving and living each in their own way. This novel has everything you want: desire, betrayal, grit, tenderness, pride, love, and--most deliciously, most brazenly--the dirty secrets and sacred secrets we make and keep to protect what we hold dear." -- Meng Jin, author of Little Gods and Self-Portrait with Ghost

"Thao Thai captures the complexities of familial love with an unflinching, yet gorgeously lyric, eye. Banyan Moon is an ambitious and masterful debut!" -- Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas

"Thao Thai pierces the veil between the living and the dead in this haunted and beautifully rendered debut. This is a story about mothers and daughters, the chasm where misunderstandings accrue, and enduring tenderness despite the little hurts we may inflict on our loved ones. Most affectingly, Thai gives us characters who mourn lost origins, but who still get to decide what home looks like. A spellbinding and intricately layered story, Banyan Moon celebrates Vietnamese women." -- E.M. Tran, author of Daughters of the New Year

"Haunting, a little spooky and occasionally heartbreaking, this sweeping debut novel follows three generations of Vietnamese women as they try to find their way in the world." -- Good Housekeeping, Best Books of 2023

"An accomplished story of a Vietnamese American family's complex relationships and pressing mysteries. ... There's no shortage of multigenerational family narratives out there, and this one really stands out from the pack." -- Publishers Weekly

"Thai deftly dissects the touchiness of strained mother-daughter relationships in a surprise-filled narrative that ranges from 1960s Vietnam to present-day Florida. Thai has created three strong, unique women determined to find their own paths despite daunting circumstances." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Powerful." -- Reader's Digest

Author Bio

Thao Thai is a writer living in Ohio with her husband and daughter. Her work engages with tangled family relationships and the intersections of motherhood and identity. She's been published in Cup of Jo, Eater, Catapult, Sunday Long Read, and more. A recipient of the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, she has also been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes and earned fellowships in creative writing. She received her MFA from The Ohio State University and her MA from The University of Chicago.