Wandering Souls

(Paperback)

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LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMENS PRIZE FOR FICTION

A deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope Ocean Vuong

I raced through it. Beautiful, brilliant Rebecca F. Kuang, author of Babel

A dazzling new talent Observer

Will shatter your heart Glamour
Powerful a bold debut that breaks new ground Sunday Times

An extraordinary story of the journey of one young family through love, loss and unwavering hope.

There are the goodbyes and then the fishing out of the bodies everything in between is speculation.

One night, not long after the last American troops leave Vietnam, siblings Anh, Thanh and Minh flee their village and embark on a perilous boat journey to Hong Kong. Their parents and four younger siblings make the crossing in another vessel but as weeks go by it becomes clear that only one party has survived the voyage.

Anh, Thanh and Minh suddenly find themselves alone in the world, without family or home. They travel on, navigating refugee camps and resettlement centres until, by a twist of fate, they arrive in Thatchers Britain. Here they must somehow build new lives with only each other to turn to, but will that be enough in a place that doesnt seem to want them

In this piercing debut, the siblings faltering journey is deftly interwoven with the voice of their lost younger brother, Dao, following them from a place between the living and the dead, and the records of an unknown researcher intent on gathering the strands of their story.Wandering Soulspaints a heart-wrenching portrait of a family in crisis while exploring the healing power of stories.

A most anticipated book of 2023 in Vogue, AnOther Magazine, i-D, Independent, Evening Standard and Huffington Post

A powerful story of courage, love and unwavering hope Marie Claire

An ambitious and promising new talent Sharlene Teo, Guardian

Heartbreaking a deeply affecting reckoning with history i-D

Tells one of the most important stories of our times Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days

Something special Reading it is like watching a writer at work New York Times

Reviews

I raced through it. Beautiful, brilliant, unflinching Rebecca F. Kuang, author of Babel and Yellowface

This lean, affecting book packs a mighty punch and heralds a dazzling new talent Observer

Powerful a bold debut that breaks new ground Sunday Times

A deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope through a long-overdue portrayal of Vietnamese life in the UK Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous

A heartbreaking novel a deeply affecting reckoning with history i-D Magazine

A poignant saga with its grieving, beating heart firmly in the right place, and heralds the arrival of an ambitious and promising new talent Guardian

A powerful story of courage, love and unwavering hope Marie Claire

Something special a polyvocal novel, an essay on inherited trauma and a quiet metafiction about telling stories we dont own New York Times

Meticulously researched and beautifully imagined deeply affecting Tash Aw, author of We, the Survivors

As relevant now as it ever was. You wont get through this without your heart breaking AnOther

Deeply moving and deeply generous I cried reading it Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of there are more things

A searing, sweeping and intimate story of such heart and scope Rachel Long, author of My Darling from the Lions

Historical epic Wandering Souls [offers] a very different take on the immigrant experience Vogue

Author Bio

Cecile Pin grew up in Paris and New York City before moving to London at 18 to study philosophy at University College London, followed by an MA at King's College London. She is currently editorial assistant at Jonathan Cape. She also writes for Bad Form Review, was longlisted for its Young Writer's prize and is a London Writers Awards 2021 winner.