Mountains Sing

Winner of the 2021 International Book Awards

Winner of the 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award

Winner of the 2020 Lannan Literary Award Fellowship for Fiction

Winner of the Blogger's Book Prize, 2021 * Shortlisted for the People's Book Prize, 2021

'An epic account of Viet Nam's painful 20th-century history, both vast in scope and intimate in its telling... Moving and riveting.' Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer

Selected as a Best Book of 2020 by NB Magazine * BookBrowse * Buzz Magazine * NPR * Washington Independent Review of Books * Real Simple * She Reads * A Hindu's View * Thoughts from a Page

One family, two generations of women and a war that will change their lives forever

Ha Noi, 1972. Huong and her grandmother, Tran Dieu Lan, cling to one another in their improvised shelter as American bombs fall around them. For Tran Dieu Lan, forced to flee the family farm with her six children decades earlier as the Communist government rose to power in the North, this experience is horribly familiar. Seen through the eyes of these two unforgettable women, The Mountains Sing captures their defiance and determination, hope and unexpected joy.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Viet Nam, celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyen's richly lyrical debut weaves between the lives of a grandmother and granddaughter to paint a unique picture of a country pushed to breaking point, and a family who refuse to give up.

'Devastating... From the French and Japanese occupations to the Indochina wars, The Great Hunger, land reform and the Vietnam War, it's a story of resilience, determination, family and hope in a country blighted by pain.' Refinery29

Review:

'Inspired by the experiences of [Nguyen Phan Que Mai's] own family, and backed up by extensive research, it's a testament to their endurance; a harrowing novel which finds hope in the author's faith in reconciliation and understanding.'
-- Herald, Glasgow

'[An] absorbing, stirring novel... Que Mai contains her saga with a poet's discipline, crafting spare and unsparing sentences, and uplifts it with a poet's antenna for beauty in the most desolate circumstances. She evokes the landscape hauntingly, as a site of loss so profound it assumes the quality of fable.'
-- New York Times Book Review

'A sweeping story that positions Vietnamese life within the rich and luminous history of national epics like The Tale of Kieu and The Iliad. Expansive in scope and feeling, The Mountains Sing is a feat of hope, an unflinchingly felt inquiry into the past, with the courageous storytelling of the present.'
-- Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

'The Mountains Sing is an epic account of Viet Nam's painful 20th century history, both vast in scope and intimate in its telling. Through the travails of one family, Nguyen Phan Que Mai brings us close to the horrors of famine, war, and class struggle. But in this moving and riveting novel, she also shows us a post-war Viet Nam, a country of hope and renewal, home to a people who have never given up.'
-- Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Sympathizer

'A Vietnamese poet conjures history and fate in a luminous tale that resonates across generations as one family grapples with the psychic residue of war.'
-- O, The Oprah Magazine

'A luminous, complex family narrative... Que Mai [has] an astute and graceful ability to sustain contradictory truths about war, displacement, aesthetic representations, and human nature... The Mountains Sing affirms the individual's right to think, read, and act according to a code of intuitive civility, borne out of Vietnam's fertile and compassionate cultural heritage.'
-- NPR

'A sweeping saga... Alternating between lyricism and blunt reality, Nguyen Phan Que Mai gives us a vivid look at Vietnam from within.'
-- People Magazine

'Nguyen Phan Que Mai's sweeping tale proves on every page that despite war-time tragedies and numbing ugliness, the human desire to forgive and thrive soars as high as the mountains.'
-- Thanhha Lai, National Book Award-winning author of Inside Out and Back Again

'A mesmerizing, devastating, searing and utterly authentic and deeply human novel. Cannot recommend highly enough!'
-- Lynn Novick, co-producer of The Vietnam War documentary

'Lyrical, wrenching, sometimes painful to read, but ultimately glorious in affirming the resilience of the human spirit. In these traumatic times in which we are facing hard times as a global community as well as a nation, it is life-affirming to be reminded that many in our human family have endured difficult histories before and come through with kindness, kindredness, love, hope, and wonderful novels that will make your heart - as well as the mountains - sing!'
-- Julia Alvarez, author of Afterlife

'Devastating... From the French and Japanese occupations to the Indochina wars, The Great Hunger, land reform and the Vietnam War, it's a story of resilience, determination, family and hope in a country blighted by pain.'
-- Refinery29, 'Best New Books, August 2020'

'A glorious novel which sweeps across land, generations and hearts... A rare gem that I will never forget.'
-- The Write Review

'I learned so much that I needed to know about Vietnam... This book, first and foremost, is one of the most significant contributions to literature.'
-- Natalie Jenner, author of The Jane Austen Society

'Such a good book... I was so impressed with it that I sent my mom a copy, and my mom is 85!'
-- Andrea Nguyen, author of The Pho Cookbook

'This novel is an absolute masterpiece of writing! It will capture your heart, absorb your mind, and your body will ache as you read this harrowing story. But I completely recommend it!'
-- Waterstones Bookseller

'A moving tribute to the author's own family, but also to the people of Viet Nam and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it... If you enjoyed Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, or The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See, this is undoubtedly one for you.'
-- Reads & Reveries

'The Mountains Sing is an epic novel weaving together stories of four generations of the fictional Tran family...The novel is poetic, absorbing and illustrative of the enormous sacrifices of the Vietnamese people, particularly the women.'
-- The Green Left, Australia

'Epic in scope, and a celebration of the human spirit, The Mountains Sing is a story you won't soon forget.'
-- PopSugar, 25 of the Best New Books to Add to Your Reading List This Spring

'A panoramic epic... Like the work of Duong Thu Huong, who deserves the Nobel one day, this book brings to life a crucial part of Vietnamese history from within. Your heart will not leave this book untouched.'
-- Literary Hub

'Nguyen Phan Que Mai had me entranced by her simple yet poetic storytelling... [She] puts her whole heart into this narrative, and what shines through amongst the shards of a broken nation, is a whole lot of hope, courage, and love... I don't think I'll ever stop praising this book.'
-- Em's Shelf Love

'The Mountains Sing is a testament to love that explores the inescapable ways in which history binds itself to us and how the process of unravelling our traumas is a generational feat of strength and wisdom... With poetic prose, Nguyen Phan Que Mai crafts a striking tale of human resolve which confronts complex questions.'
-- Book Riot, Best Books of 2020

'Not since 2017's Pachinko have readers been given a family saga as sumptuous and compelling as The Mountains Sing.'
-- PopMatters, 'Best Fiction Books of 2020'

'A comprehensive multigenerational tale, beginning in 1920s Vietnam and continuing through modern wartime. However, the larger history takes a back seat to family dynamics, demonstrating how different generations weather the burdens of conflict.'
-- The Washington Post

'A sweeping tale of one family's shifting fortunes in Vietnam across half a century... Invitingly and gracefully told... A richly imagined story of severed bonds amid conflict.'
-- Kirkus, starred review

'[A] lyrical, sweeping debut novel... Nguyen brilliantly explores the boundary between what a writer shares with the world and what remains between family. This brilliant, unsparing love letter to Vietnam will move readers.'
-- Publishers Weekly, starred review

'At turns lyrical and harrowing, The Mountains Sing is a poignant work of historical fiction, an ode to Mai's ancestors and experiences that lay bare a history long forgotten (and neglected) in the wider world - an essential novel for readers looking to uncover the truth of Viet Nam.'

-- Paperback Paris, Best Books of 2020

'Nguyen writes of Vietnamese history with such understanding and humanity that one can easily argue for The Mountains Sing's status as the great Vietnamese novel of our time.'
-- DiaCRITICS

'An engrossing story of family, adversity, war, loss, and triumph... Recalling Min Jin Lee and Lisa See, Nguyen displays a lush and captivating storyteller's gift as she effortlessly transports readers to another world, leaving them wishing for more.'
-- Library Journal, starred review

'This multigenerational tale chronicles the Tra n family as a Vietnamese woman visits Hanoi and reflects on the life lessons shared by her late grandmother.'
-- USA Today, 'Five Books Not to Miss'

'There are many ways to read The Mountains Sing: as history transformed into epic fiction; as war story; as family saga of love and hate, division and potential salvation[...] One of the things that makes The Mountains Sing a very good novel - rather than just a good one - is how Que Mai infuses this candour with genuine humanity... A terrifying, melancholic and achingly beautiful first novel.'
-- South China Morning Post

'A historical novel that portrays Vietnamese strength in the face of adversity... I came away at the end of the book with a new appreciation for the courage and resourcefulness of the Vietnamese.'
-- Washington Independent Review of Books

'Told with poetic economy and intensity, [The Mountains Sing] is dominated by the formidable Dieu Lan and her granddaughter Huong, who find ways to pass on stories from the past.'
-- Sydney Morning Herald

'Good literature frees us from being trapped in our own skins by allowing us to identify with characters and see the world through their eyes. Reading this novel, I was moved by Nguyen Phan Que Mai's beautiful, even poetic, depictions of enduring courage. I came away with a deeper understanding of the war in which I fought.'
-- Karl Marlantes, bestselling author of Matterhorn and Deep River

'Widely published in Vietnamese, poet, nonfiction writer, and translator Nguyen Phan Que Mai's first novel in English balances the unrelenting devastation of war with redemptive moments of surprising humanity.'
-- Booklist

'In The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai has found a true and clear voice in English that is rich and compelling the way only those who come to English as a second language can sometimes manage.'
-- Bruce Weigl, author of bestselling memoir The Circle of Hanh

'Many English-language novels about Vietnam focus on the years when Americans fought there, but this multi-generation familial saga goes decades further back.'
-- Los Angeles Times

'Que Mai tells the story of the war that tore apart Viet Nam, and of the generation lost to the war, by braiding around it two beautiful strands told by the older and younger generations of a family. This book is an act of love, compassion, and ultimately healing, and very much needed by all who survived the war.'
-- Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do

'Nguyen Phan Que Mai has written a wonderful, intricate story of the lives of a Vietnamese family trying to make it through generations of war. The Mountains Sing is a beautiful story of the simple challenge of keeping a family together and the courage of perseverance. It is told with the sureness of a master storyteller with a poet's spirit. A large and complicated story, marvellous to read.'
-- Larry Heinemann, National Book Award-winning author of Paco's Story

'Que Mai's first novel in English is lyrical and at once heart-wrenching and hopeful. Que Mai has described the book as her "desperate call for peace and for humans to love other human beings more". After a year like 2020, I think that call will resonate with many.'
-- NPR, Best Books of 2020

'In this moving family saga, author Que Mai gives us a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary North Vietnamese as they struggle to survive the calamities that descend over their country - from the Japanese occupation during World War II, to the harsh and ideological rule of the communists, to the American bombing of the North, and to the shocks and aftershocks of the Vietnam War. It is a story of loss and sorrow, of longing for peace and normalcy, and-above all-of the triumph of hope over despair, told in the authentic voices of a resilient and resourceful grandmother and her granddaughter.'
-- Mai Elliott, author of The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family

'This is a love letter, told honestly and poignantly, to the Vietnamese people, an homage to their dedication to remembrance, during and after a painful time.'
-- The Arts Fuse

'The structure is clever, the writing often evocative, the characters convincing and very touching and the whole narrative deeply engaging. And this is a first novel! Impressive.'
-- Sara Maitland, author of Daughter of Jerusalem, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award

'Over the last two decades we have been gifted with works by Vietnamese writers who have brought us into the consciousness of those that Americans saw only as backdrops for their own stories. Nguyen Phan Que Mai not only adds to that rich body of work, she daringly transcends it.'
-- Wayne Karlin, author of Wandering Souls

'A poignant and vivid portrayal of a brutal slice of Vietnamese history from a perspective that is so rarely heard abroad: that of the Vietnamese themselves. We are starkly reminded of how those wars-and wars everywhere-wash over and drown both the guilty and innocent alike.'
-- Doreen Baingana, author of Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe

'Fascinating... Que Mai is an acclaimed Vietnamese poet, and her vivid images, along with the simplicity of her prose, make the novel propulsive and haunting in its depiction of a deep, nuanced landscape.'
-- Bookpage

'A Vietnamese family's song resounds over the effects of decades of tumult in Nguyen Phan Que Mai's excellent novel, The Mountains Sing.'
-- Popmatters

'A beautiful evocation of a lost world.'
-- Paris Review of Books

'A poignant English debut - a gripping portrait of Viet Nam folded between a generational tale of love, loss, and above all else, the will to survive. Honest, alluring and hopeful, The Mountains Sing is a stunning work of historical fiction that lays bare history long forgotten; an essential novel for readers looking to uncover the truth of Viet Nam.'
-- Paperback Paris

'Beautiful, heartbreaking and utterly essential.'
-- Saigoneer Bookshelf

'The Mountains Sing brings Vietnamese culture to life, steeped in beautiful language and tradition.'
-- The Campus

'Generations of a Vietnamese family grapple with the legacy of violence, colonialism and war as a woman tells her childhood history to her granddaughter during the Vietnam War. This is the first book that Que Mai, a celebrated Vietnamese poet, has written in English.'
* New York Times, 13 Books to Watch For in March *

'Beautifully and lyrically written... The Mountains Sing is historical fiction at its finest - it highlights the impact and cost of the events that led up to the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese people's perspective.'
-- She Reads, Best Historical Fiction Books of 2020

'Stunning...filled with vivid characters and evocative depictions of the Vietnamese landscapes, both urban and rural... There's an important Vietnam War history lesson embedded here, as well, one that is not often available to American readers.'
-- Vietnam Veterans of America

'Inspired by real life events, Nguyen Phan Que Mai's story will thrill, shock and terrify the reader in equal measure. It will also inspire them with its life-affirming qualities of everyday heroism and survival against all the odds.'
-- Philip Caveney, author of Sebastian Darke, Alec Devlin and Movie Maniacs novels

'A multigenerational epic about a family torn apart by war and the efforts of its various members to survive... Nguyen's poetic descriptions and deep affection for her characters allow the reader to feel for the Tran family's many vicissitudes.'
-- Minneapolis Star Tribune

'Whether conscious or not Que Mai has spoken for generations outside of Vietnam, millions upon millions of people bombed out, put underground, forced to flee and desperate to live.'
-- CounterPunch

'This poetic novel illustrates how their sacrifices ripple through [a] family.'
-- The Nerd Daily

'The story is buoyed, too, by the family's extraordinary resilience... The flow of the writing and the story brings you onto a wave of hope.'
-- Pittsburgh Post Gazette

'Nguyen Phan Que Mai traces a half a century of Vietnam's history through the stories of Tran Dieu Lan, who loses her livelihood during the 1950s land reform, and her granddaughter Huong, who comes of age in the 1970s during the Vietnam War. This poetic novel illustrates how their sacrifices ripple through the family.'
-- Real Simple, 'What to Read Next'

'It is in some ways, I would say, the Vietnamese version of The Grapes of Wrath, because it's describing this time period in Vietnamese history that's deeply traumatic, and yet also poorly understood, and in many ways is a time period that completely contradicted how the North Vietnamese and the Communist Party saw themselves.'
-- Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer

'A lyrical account of Viet Nam's brutal past...The Mountains Sing is a moral tale with the grandeur and violence of a Greek tragedy.'
-- The Arts Desk

'This engrossing family saga, both Que Mai's debut novel and her first book in English, provides a fresh, and ultimately uplifting, perspective on the American-Vietnamese war.'
-- Asian Review of Books

This is Nguyen's first English-language work and debut novel, and her work as a poet is evident in the way her words dance; there is a fable-like quality to the writing, with Vietnamese customs and proverbs weaving their way through the pages.'
-- The Saturday Paper, Australia

'In some ways it reminds [one] of Pachinko, which covered the same period of tumultuous modern Asian history in a family across Korea and Japan. Que Mai brings a poetic, lyrical quality to her story.'
-- Asia Society of Australia
'A uniquely personal but distinctly Vietnamese story of home, family and hope.' -- Adelaide Advertiser

'While Que Mai's novel explores its share of despairing circumstances, lamenting more than anything else the inhumanity of war and violence on all sides, its central driving force is one of resilience and optimism. Helped along by the often beautiful, descriptively lush and metaphor-rich language, the Tran family story is ultimately and prevailingly one of confronting, surviving and overcoming trauma.'
-- SA Weekend (Australia)

'The power of this outstanding novel lies in the gradual revelations of just how many personal challenges this family has had to deal with... I totally fell in love with Dieu Lan and felt in awe of her resilience, courage and determination... Hauntingly beautiful.'
-- NB magazine

'A compelling and challenging novel that should be read as an attempt to recognise both the presence of the past and its profound effect on the formation of individual and national identity.'
-- Irish Times

'Whenever I'm asked what my 'absolute favourite' book of the year has been, I usually struggle to come up with an answer. However, this year it was easy to decide on Nguyen Phan Que Mai's The Mountains Sing.'
-- NB magazine, Best Books of 2020

'A breathtaking multigenerational saga following the Tran family through Vietnam's turbulent 20th century. Que Mai's poetic eye illuminates the complex realities of living with devastating conflict and loss. The Mountains Sing is a vivid, mesmerizing, and essential feat of storytelling.'
-- Books Are Magic

'An epic tale of family and Vietnamese history.'
-- Orange County Register

'Deep human bonds of family, place, and memory are written of in ways that are often heartbreaking, but show the strength and persistence of those ties. This is a book that glows with spirit and those larger life forces that include love. I look forward to the day I can put this book in readers' hands.'
-- Rick Simonson, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle

'This moving saga has captivated readers with its authenticity and lyrical storytelling.'
-- Boston Public Radio

'Que Mai opens a window into the other side of a controversial war, and we would do well to consider the lessons her characters teach.'
-- The Seattle Book Review

'This complex saga has a grand momentum... There is a compelling quality to the heightened emotions, the loss of life and culture, the strength and fortitude of the survivors, punctuated by the proverbs and aphorisms of old Vietnam. Our experience is enhanced by learning a nation's history from different points of view through the words of a skilled and impassioned writer.'
-- Otago Daily Times

'From famine to war, Nguyen Phan Que Mai weaves into her epic novel The Mountains Sing stories of what her family and friends went through.'
-- Straits Times, Singapore

'The first major novel penned in English by a Vietnamese writer...gives readers a sense of place - both natural and manmade - and a glimpse into Vietnam's past through famine, land reforms, colloquialisms, and the Japanese and French invasions... The Mountains Sing is a story from a daughter of Vietnam, in her own words.'
-- Nikkei Asia

'Author and poet Nguyen...weaves this beautiful, vital novel with lyricism. Her words comfort and draw us close as the horrific atrocities of the Vietnam War unfold in this family fable.'
-- Australian Women's Weekly

'A beautifully written book that will absorb you from the beginning.'
-- Readings Digest, Australia

'A vast, epic historical novel set against the backdrop of the Viet Nam conflict through the eyes of the people themselves.'
-- Ms. Magazine